H20: Under the Sea
by Tess of the Urban Ville
Summary: An H2O: Just Add Water Fanfiction. Rikki, Emma, and Cleo have rid themselves of Charlotte, but now they are faced with another full moon and more mermaid problems. Can they reverse its effects, or is this new transformation permanent?
1. Morning Swims

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water does not belong to me and is the property of its creators, Channel 10, Nickelodeon, and other companies.

CHAPTER ONE: MORNING SWIMS

It was Sunday morning, and perfect weather for a day to be spent outdoors. While most teenagers in the area were flocking around the public beach that day, Cleo, Emma, and Rikki were headed for a more secluded spot, far from the prying eye.

Under any other circumstances, these three girls would have been ordinary teenagers. However, a higher power had intervened and, following a life-altering trip to the uninhabited Mako Island, the girls had realized they were no longer ordinary teenage girls. For, as they quickly found out, if even a droplet of water touched their bodies, they would turn into mermaids, tail and all.

Aside from a few unpleasant experiences and some trouble with the new girl in town, the girls had rather enjoyed their first year as mermaids and, when the time came, did not want to give up their new powers. Fortunately, three are stronger than one, and the three girls were able to keep their own powers while robbing the newcomer, Charlotte, of hers. It was that recent struggle which was the topic of conversation as the girls headed out for the secluded spot where they knew they would not be seen. Experience had taught them to keep their secret very carefully, lest they lose not only their powers, but also their freedom.

"Well, I knew from the beginning she was bad news," Rikki intoned, crossing her arms and jutting out her chin. "Remember, I told you."

"Yeah, of course you did, but let's not forget who got her involved with us in the first place," Emma added, turning to look at Cleo, who rolled her eyes.

"Don't bring Lewis into this," she pleaded. "The last thing we need right now is for the two of you to turn against us."

"Oh, we're not turning against you, Cleo," Rikki replied sweetly. "Just your boyfriend."

"Look, I don't know what came over him, and neither does he, so let's leave it at that, ok?"

Rikki and Emma exchanged looks and decided not to pursue the conversation, at the risk of upsetting Cleo further.

"So, do you think that Charlotte might say something?" Cleo asked as they walked along, her brow furrowed.

"Not if she knows what's good for her," Rikki answered, a martial glint in her eye. Rikki, like the other two, had control over water, but her power was perhaps the most dangerous: heat.

"Still, I don't know if I trust her, especially now that she'd be out of any danger if we got discovered. She never was careful with her powers when she had them."

"Cleo's right," Emma agreed. "We can't ever really trust her."

"So what are we supposed to do? Run her out of town? Although…"

"Don't even think about it, Rikki," Emma scolded. She knew too well the kind of thoughts running through Rikki's head and wanted to avoid any more problems than they could handle.

"Maybe we can just talk to her? She isn't that horrible, I suppose…" Cleo trailed off, knowing very well that she was, in fact, rather unpleasant and uncooperative.

"I think that, for right now, we can just ignore her and hope she doesn't let anything slip," Emma finally concluded, ever the voice of reason.

"I'd just as soon not let her spoil this beautiful day," Rikki agreed, and the girls ran the few inches left down to the water's edge, diving in and emerging seconds later in the forms of mermaids. Their bright golden tails glinted in the morning sunshine.

With a simultaneous flick of all three fins, the girls were underwater and racing towards the reef, far from shore, where another girl was sitting on that same beach, watching them depart with jealousy and longing churning inside of her.

"Charlotte?"

The redhead looked up at the source of the voice, a very confused Lewis.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her suspiciously.

"I just missed you," she lied deftly. "I came to see if you would be here."

"Oh. So this has nothing to do with the girls?"

"Of course not!"

"Fine," Lewis said, beginning to set up his fishing equipment. "But, please, leave them alone."

"Of course…"

Charlotte burned with rage and unhappiness. "Of course I won't," her vengeful thoughts finished for her.


	2. Revenge

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water does not belong to me and is the property of its creators, Channel 10, Nickelodeon, and other companies.

_Author's Note: To everybody reading, I'd love reviews! They make me feel appreciated. Also, enjoy!_

CHAPTER TWO: REVENGE

Swimming out towards Mako, the girls twirled around each other in the water. Brightly colored tropical fish swam around them and they laughed at the little scuttling creatures. This made everything worth it.

To be fair, when they had first become mermaids, it had seemed like being in constant danger of discovery was simply not worth a carefree swim. Of course, once they had learned to control their powers and love the feeling of being a mermaid, Emma, Cleo, and Rikki realized that they would not want to give this up for anything.

Rikki swatted Cleo with her blonde hair and continued to swim forward, daring the other girl to out-swim her to their isolated hideout. Emma swam to the side, rolling her eyes at Rikki's childish behavior. The sun peeked through the waves as they swam and warmed the water. It was, in short, a perfect day.

However, not everyone was enjoying that day. Back on the beach, long after Lewis had left with his catch, Charlotte sat on the sand and fumed. It was all so unfair. _They_ didn't deserve to be mermaids. Hadn't it been her grandmother who had first undergone the transformation? Hadn't she shown her worth by inheriting all three powers? And now, she could never regain those powers. Worse still, the three girls would get to keep theirs, forever taunting her with something she couldn't have. It just wasn't fair.

The sun beat down on her head and she longed to dive into the water just like she had been able to do only a month before. Instead, now she could only hope to flail in the shallows like the other ordinary people. While _they_ got to swim and enjoy themselves, all she could do was watch with growing jealousy.

Suddenly, a thought struck her. Yes, they had something she wanted. But now that she could no longer have the ability to be a mermaid, wouldn't the best course of action be to make it undesirable? And the one way for her not to want it would be to see the girls suffer because of it.

It had to work.

She knew everything about them, their most intimate secrets and weaknesses. She knew what kind of powers each girl had and how they were controlled. Furthermore, she knew their greatest fear—discovery. Bringing it about would be easy.

Then, finally, she might be able to relax. Being a mermaid was wonderful, but she would never want to be a mermaid in a cage. This was her chance to make them pay for what they had done to her.

Just as the last sliver of sun disappeared below the line of the horizon, Charlotte stood up and began walking away from the beach. Everything was coming together for her now. She'd have her revenge and, in the process, get everything she could possibly want.

Her brain teemed with the possibilities and results of the girls' capture. If they could be studied by scientists, then those scientists might learn more about what had made the girls mermaids and could maybe take their powers away or, better still, figure out how somebody else might obtain those powers.

And, of course, with Cleo locked up, she would have another chance with Lewis.

Satisfied, she smiled to herself. This had been a very productive day.

That same evening, the girls sat in Emma's kitchen, discussing the following night, which would bring the event they all dreaded.

"So, tomorrow's the full moon," Emma sighed.

"Yep," Rikki replied nonchalantly, as though she could care less.

"Maybe we could figure out a way to stay in just one room that has no windows and stop up any cracks in the doors," Cleo mused, more or less to herself.

"What, the closet?" Rikki mocked her.

"And asphyxiate in the process? No, thanks, I'd rather get a little moonstruck," stated Emma matter-of-factly.

"Well, what's your suggestion, then? Because whatever we do, we always wind up getting in trouble around the full moon," Cleo said with exasperation, throwing up her hands for emphasis.

"I don't really know," was Emma's reply. "I suppose we just do what we can and have the boys attempt to watch out for us."

"Oh, that'll go over so well with your parents," Rikki grinned. "Having our boyfriends spend the night, which is furthermore a school night."

"Well, what else can we do? They're the only ones who can keep an eye on us."

"Maybe it's time we told our families," Cleo said, deep in thought.

"No way," was Rikki's instant reply. "They just won't understand. Adults are so irrational."

"She's right, Cleo," added Emma. "We'd wind up in a laboratory, because they thought they were helping us. Trust me, we need to keep this a secret."

"Not much of a secret," Cleo muttered, but the others didn't hear.

"Fine, then, we'll just sneak them in before the full moon rises," Emma resolved.

"This mermaid thing is good for you, Em," Rikki said with a smile. "It's really brought out your rebellious streak."

Please, everyone, review!


	3. Lunacy

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water does not belong to me and is the property of its creators, Channel 10, Nickelodeon, and other

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water does not belong to me and is the property of its creators, Channel 10, Nickelodeon, and other companies.

_Author Note: Finally getting into the heart of things. Exciting times!_

CHAPTER THREE: LUNACY

"So, can someone please explain to me why we're doing this?" Ash asked Zane and Lewis, who were putting up tarps in the corners of the windows and doors, where light might get through from outside.

"Because," Lewis began again for what seemed like the hundredth time, "Tonight is the full moon. And the girls can't see the full moon without going completely crazy."

"Ah," was Ash's simple response. "So, why can't they just not look at the moon?"

"It's not that simple," Lewis replied. "The moon kind of… makes itself seen," he finally finished, not sure what else to say about it. It was a strange sort of phenomenon, since no matter how hard the girls tried, they always ran into trouble with the full moon.

"I thought that you ran into them the last time there was a full moon?" Zane asked Ash. "Didn't you come by with dinner, or something?"

"Oh, was that what all that was?" Ash asked, surprised. "Well, that explains a lot."

"You say it as if everything that happens makes perfect sense," Lewis said, grinning. "And, as a scientist, I have to say that what has been happening recently makes no sense whatsoever."

"At least we know how to help out," Zane shrugged. "I know I wouldn't be able to handle it. I don't know how the girls do it."

"I don't know how Emma handles it!" Ash exclaimed. "I swear, if she doesn't have control over every tiny little aspect of her life, she goes crazy."

"What was that about me, now?" Emma asked, entering the room with Cleo and Rikki not far behind.

"Oh, nothing, really," he stammered out, "Just that you have a tendency to want to control everything. Not that that's bad!" he quickly added.

"Oh, is that what you really think?" Emma asked, narrowing her eyes. "Then why are you always complaining about it?"

"I don't!" he protested.

"Oh, sure."

"Well, I don't always complain about it. Maybe you're just paranoid?"

"What do you know? Of course I'm controlling! Do you know how hard it is keeping your life in some semblance of order when you have to worry about the tiniest drop of water constantly? Of course you don't!"

"Well, it doesn't seem to be bothering Cleo and Rikki as much as it bothers y—"

"Oh, how dare you!" Emma practically screamed.

"Hey!" Lewis broke the tense atmosphere, "What do you think of our job sealing up your room?" he asked Emma.

"Oh, it's fine, Lewis. Thanks," Emma replied absentmindedly, still staring daggers at Ash. One of the reasons their relationship worked was because both of them were competitive and continuously needed to keep up with each other. On the other hand, this sometimes caused problems.

"Well, I think you did a great job, Lewis," Cleo chirped. "And Zane. And Ash! Didn't the boys do a good job?"

"'S'alright," Rikki shrugged, sitting down onto Emma's bed and looking at the walls, decorated with tarp, cardboard, and duct-tape. Zane came to sit down next to her.

"So, you're sure you don't want us here tonight?" he inquired.

"Positive," Rikki answered. "How would we sneak you in without looking at the moon by accident? And besides, we can handle ourselves."

"Oh, right, I forgot how in control you are when the full moon is up," he said sarcastically. "Come on, at least let _me_ stay. Lewis has helped you all out enough. I just don't want you getting into any more trouble."

"We'll be fine, Zane, really," Emma snapped. "Look, I think you should go. All of you. It's six already."

Ash gave a deflated sigh, knowing he wasn't going to get a chance to talk to her about this until tomorrow. Which meant that she would remain angry all night.

Cleo and Rikki said goodbye to their boyfriends, while Emma merely crossed her arms over her chest and turned around in a huff.

"Bye, Emma," Ash half-heartedly tried.

"Good-bye, Zane and Lewis," was the only thing Emma said.

"Right. We'll talk later, I guess."

With that final gesture towards reconciliation, their boyfriends left the room.

As soon as they were gone, Cleo turned to her best friend and tried to calm her down somewhat.

"Look, it's not like he said anything that you haven't heard before, right?"

"Oh, I don't even care about the 'controlling' comment anymore. I just didn't appreciate the fact that he thinks I could be just like you: carefree and happy as anything," Emma sighed.

"Well, we're not like that always. And you're not always uptight," Rikki commented.

"Exactly. But he probably just thinks I'm some control freak who can't enjoy herself no matter what."

"Well, he wouldn't be dating you if he really thought that about you," Cleo replied.

"I'm kind of worried about what will happen tonight," Rikki interrupted, changing the topic.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked incredulously. "_You_? Worried about something?"

"I just have a funny feeling about this particular full moon," Rikki stated, a shiver running through her. "Something's going to go wrong. Very, very wrong."

"You're off by one. Last time something very, very wrong almost happened. We'll be fine this time," Emma assured her.

"I don't know about that."

"What, are you still worried about Charlotte?" Cleo made a face at the mention of her name. "She can't be a mermaid anymore, remember?"

"No, it's not her. I don't know what it is. Something just feels off," said Rikki.

"Well, we'll do our best. And worst comes to worst, we can always call one of the guys for help," Cleo responded. "Wait… if you were worried, why did you tell Zane we'd be fine and didn't need help? Maybe we will!"

"Are you joking?" Rikki smiled at Cleo. "What, you think I could ever show to Zane that I was scared of something."

"You're at that stage in your relationship," Emma smirked.

"You should not be talking about relationship problems," Rikki countered.

"Enough, both of you!" Cleo interrupted. "We've got enough problems tonight without the two of you scratching at each other like cats."

"Cleo's right," Emma said, "We shouldn't be acting like this when the full moon is almost up."

All three girls looked towards the shuttered window.

"I think I know what you mean," Emma said to Rikki, also feeling strange for some reason.

"Me too," Cleo added.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Don't worry, Emma will get over it," Lewis assured Ash. "If it was Rikki…" he started and trailed off, noticing Zane raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, I just don't like thinking she'll be alone and unsafe tonight, and angry at me, as well," Ash said dejectedly.

"Ah, don't worry, guys. They'll take care of themselves. They've done it before."

"How often?" inquired Zane.

"Well, once. Once and a half if you count the last time, when Charlotte almost ruined everything," Lewis said reluctantly.

"What was with her? How is she involved?" Ash asked, suddenly interested.

"Oh, well, that…" Lewis began, and told him the entire story by the time they reached the end of Emma's street and the moon had come up.

"So, they could have given their powers up?" Ash finally asked, pensively.

"Well, yes, but they didn't, of course," Lewis replied, furrowing his brow at Ash's tone.

"But if Emma has so much trouble because of this, why wouldn't she want to give it up?" he finally voiced his thoughts.

"They've gotten used to it. They like being mermaids," Lewis said simply.

"Huh."

Suddenly, Zane's phone was going off, as was Lewis's.

"Hello?" they answered simultaneously.

Ash stood by and heard panicked voices on both sides.

"Calm down, Cleo, what's the matter?" Lewis asked, trying to figure out what exactly had gone wrong.

"Wait, Rikki, what?"

When the conversation was over, Lewis and Zane looked at each other, then at Ash.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"Emma's gone off."

"_What?!_"

"Exactly," said Lewis. "Cleo says she just said, 'I'll prove him wrong,' and marched out the front door. She's never been irrational like that before. And I don't think she'd seen the moon when she did it. Maybe something's going really wrong."

"Let's go find her!" Ash exclaimed, taking off at a run in the direction they had just come from.

"I'll go check on the girls," Zane ordered Lewis. "You go after Emma with Ash. You know the water better than I do."

"Right."

Lewis ran to catch up to Ash. Zane followed, heading towards Emma's house.

And above them all, the moon shone almost wickedly down onto the sparkling water in the bay. It had its own plans for this night.

_A/N: A long chapter to make up for my lack of updates. More coming soon!_


	4. Midnight Swims

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water does not belong to me and is the property of its creators, Channel 10, Nickelodeon, and other companies.

CHAPTER 4: MIDNIGHT SWIMS

Emma traversed the short distance between her house and the dock and stood at the edge, looking into the water. She hadn't yet seen the moon reflected in the water, so logically, she still wasn't moonstruck. Unless she had seen it and hadn't noticed?

She didn't know what had made her want to come out here, right as the moon was at its brightest. She knew perfectly well that she had no self-control whatsoever once she saw the moon, and she wouldn't be able to remember what had occurred once she had seen the moon.

"I guess that's why," she told herself sadly. It seemed like the only outlet for her constant anxiety and stress were these moonlit swims that left her with no memory of what had happened. It was almost like leaving herself completely behind and just enjoying what she had.

Well, at least Ash wouldn't be able to complain that she was too responsible or too much of a control freak. She was able to lose all control this way, wasn't she? She just hoped that the girls wouldn't follow her, since it wouldn't do them any good to have all three moonstruck.

Not looking back at the house, she dove into the water, leaving her mobile phone and her keys lying on the grass. The silvery water beckoned to her and she fully obliged. As she dove, she felt the tingly sensation of changing from girl to mermaid and smiled. This was one part of her life that, no matter how much trouble it caused her, she wasn't planning to give up any time soon. As for Ash? What did she care about some stupid argument? She was a mermaid, swimming freely in the ocean, without having to focus on the mundane lifestyle of humans.

Just then, the moon caught her eye at last. She grinned broadly, as she wondered why they were always trying to avoid the moon on nights like this. Wasn't the moon what gave them their gift in the first place?

Thus, with all thoughts of land, her boyfriend, and her best friends behind her, she swam out toward Mako Island, not thinking of anything in particular except how much she loved being in the water.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ash and Lewis ran around the house, towards the backyard, knowing that she would have gone there if she were headed for the water. And on a night like this, she had to be headed for the water. There, they found only her mobile phone and her keys lying on the grass where she had left them. They exchanged a glance and looked out towards Mako Island where she was sure to be headed.

"Well, should we follow her?" asked Ash. "She won't get hurt, will she?"

"Who knows?" replied Lewis. "Rikki almost set fire to herself once, or so I've been told."

Ash bit his lip nervously, not knowing what to do in the situation. There was really only one thing to do.

"I'll go after her," he stated firmly.

Lewis looked at him askance. "You can't go alone. Who knows what she's like, now that she's seen the moon?"

"You're making her sound like a werewolf," Ash noted.

"In a way…" said Lewis, "Only without the teeth."

"Well, I frankly don't care." He had decided. "I'm going after her."

"Let me come with you, at least!" Lewis insisted.

Ash nodded, but then looked towards the window where the girls were anxiously waiting for news of Emma.

"What about Rikki and Cleo?" he asked.

"Zane's with them. I'll just call him and tell him we've gone after Emma," Lewis replied.

"There'll be no need for that," a girl's voice sounded from behind.

Lewis and Ash turned around to see Rikki and Cleo walking through the backyard towards the water, their eyes fixed on the ground in front of them, with Zane following close behind and trying to usher them back into the house.

"What are you doing here?" Lewis asked. "You know you can't be out here right now!"

"We're not going to leave you to go after Emma alone. Who knows what new powers this full moon will give her?" Cleo said bravely. If she hadn't had her head bent over to stare at the ground, her chin would have been jutting out proudly.

"Besides, we've done this before," Rikki added, her voice not quite so certain.

"Can you please go back inside?" Zane pleaded. "The last time you were moonstruck, you nearly killed me!" He remembered that first kiss they had shared as half of the vegetation on Mako Island burned around them.

But Rikki and Cleo were adamant about following Emma. Nothing the boys said could stop them and so they were also soon diving into the water and swimming out towards Mako Island.

"This is your fault," Zane scowled, with an accusing finger pointing at Ash.

"What did I do?" Ash asked defensively.

"Don't ever pick a fight with Emma Gilbert," Zane replied, speaking from experience.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As Rikki and Cleo swam towards Mako, they also got a good look at the moon, and soon were no longer swimming quickly to help bring Emma back, but rather to join her.

They twirled and somersaulted in the water as they sped towards the moon pool. Cleo kept stopping to observe the schools of fish moving nearby and waving at them with her own tail. Rikki, meanwhile, was simply floating while she waited, looking up at the silver orb that was so beautiful when seen from below the water.

Taking their time to enjoy the ocean at night, they eventually got to the moon pool, where they found Emma floating in the water, singing to herself.

"Where have you been? You're late," she scolded.

"Sorry, we just wanted to swim around," Rikki replied, twirling her hair around her finger and playfully splashing her interlocutor with her golden fin.

"I was watching the fish," Cleo added helpfully.

"Isn't it beautiful here when the moon is full?" Emma sighed, looking up through the dormant volcano to the sky above.

"So beautiful," Cleo agreed, and Rikki nodded.

Emma's eyes were dreamy and her expression was alarming.

As she was drifting towards the sandy shore near the moon pool, she suddenly righted herself and, with a mischievous glint in her eye, looked around at Rikki and Cleo, who were still floating and looking up at the moon.

"Let's stay here," she declared.

"Yes, for now," Cleo responded drowsily.

"No," Emma stated, grinning broadly. "Forever. Let's stay here forever."

Rikki looked over at Emma and also started to smile.

"Yes, forever."

Just then, there was a scuffle of feet and the three boys emerged from within the cave.

"Oh, no, you don't," Lewis started, moving towards where Cleo was already drifting farther and farther away from the shore to be closer to Emma and Rikki.

"Come on, Rikki, get out of the water. You're confused," Zane tried to reason with her. She merely shook her head and giggled merrily, sprinkling water everywhere.

"No, I'm staying here and you can't make me come out." Her usually fierce expression was that of a flaky seven-year-old and she linked arms with Emma, who was similarly trying to scorn any advice from Ash.

The three were treading water, their arms linked, and moving farther from shore with every passing second, towards the exit of the moon pool and towards the open ocean.

"Please, Emma, I'm sorry I said what I did. Please come out," Ash pleaded, stretching out his hand to pull her out of the water. "You don't want to stay in there. It's late and it could be dangerous."

"I'm not in danger here," Emma said placidly. "I'm in danger on land. I'm staying here."

Quickly, she dove under the water, ready to swim out of the moon pool. Cleo and Rikki followed her lead.

Seeing this, Ash, without thinking, jumped in after her and grabbed her fin, attempting to pull her back and prevent her from swimming out. Lewis and Zane, seeing what Ash had done, also jumped in to seize their girlfriends before they made an escape to who-knew-where and for who-knows-how-long.

All six surfaced in the moon pool. Rikki, Emma, and Cleo were fiercely trying to pull away from Zane, Ash, and Lewis, who were fighting to keep above the water and simultaneously keep hold of the fleeing mermaids.

"Stop it, Emma, stop it!" Ash shouted, trying to swim back to the shore and just barely keeping a hold on Emma's arm, while she clawed at him and attempted to pull away.

Finally, they managed to pull the girls towards the shore and drag them out of the water. Emma and Rikki were still protesting, but Cleo had settled down somewhat and was no longer trying to pull out of Lewis's arms. Soon thereafter, all three of the girls were dry, their tails were gone, and they were fast asleep on the sand.

Ash, Lewis, and Zane sat on the sand, still recovering from their struggle with the girls and gasping for breath.

"Next time," Ash wheezed out between gasps for air, "We're tying them up."

"Good luck with _that_," Lewis sighed.

"How have you been doing this for a year?" Zane asked Lewis incredulously.

"Well, it's not always like this," Lewis replied. "Sometimes they never even make it out here."

"Let's get home," Zane finally said. "Just don't get them near the water."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Heading back in Zane's boat, the boys were trying to figure out how to get Emma, Rikki, and Cleo back into Emma's house without her parents noticing.

At least Zane and Ash were trying to figure this out. Lewis had an extremely concerned look on his face as he pondered something.

"Aren't you going to contribute?" Ash finally asked him. "What's on your mind?"

Lewis merely shook his head. "It's probably nothing. I was just thinking about something…" he trailed off.

They eventually managed to get back to the mainland, and each boy took his girlfriend in his arms and carried her back towards Emma's house. It was nearing daylight already, and the moon had gone, so they woke the girls once they got there and urged them to get inside the house before anybody woke up.

"But what happened?" Emma insisted. "What did we do this time?"

"Don't worry about it," Ash replied with a smile. "Let me do the worrying for you."

She smiled at his words. "Thank you."

"So, Rikki, do you still think something bad happened?" Cleo asked, yawning as she woke up.

Rikki bit her lip. "Yes. Definitely. Something feels wrong."

"Well, you did almost tear my hair out," Zane said with a grin, gingerly rubbing his head.

"I did _what_?" Rikki asked incredulously.

"Don't worry about it, we'll discuss it later," he told her reassuringly, his arm around her shoulders. He smiled down at his beautiful girlfriend. She was definitely worth all the trouble that he sometimes had to put up with to be with her.

"Go upstairs, quickly," Lewis urged them. "It's almost seven." He peeked at his watch to confirm this.

"Ok, ok, we're going," Rikki said with an annoyed look.

Each girl kissed her boyfriend goodbye and ran back towards the back door of the house, slipping in quietly and heading upstairs.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Can I take a bath first?" Cleo asked the other two girls. "I'm covered in sand."

"So are we," Rikki protested. "But I don't mind if Emma doesn't. It's her bathroom."

"You can go," Emma confirmed, nodding. "Just don't take too long."

"Yay!" Cleo squealed happily, bouncing into the bathroom and locking the door.

Rikki and Emma watched her go and then set about taking down all the boards and tarps from the windows. A minute had passed when there was a scream from inside the bathroom.

"Cleo, Cleo, what is it?" Emma demanded, pounding on the door. Unfortunately, the scream had also roused Emma's mother and she came into the room. Neglecting to make any comments about the tarps still covering the windows, she ran to the bathroom door.

"Let me aside, Emma!" she demanded, taking out the master key for the house and slipping it into the keyhole.

"Wait, Mom, don't!" Emma exclaimed, frightened.

"Cleo, dear, are you all right in there?" Mrs. Gilbert asked anxiously, just before she turned the doorknob. "Can I come in?"

"I'm… I'm fine, Mrs. Gilbert," Cleo answered. Her voice was shaking.

"You don't sound fine, dear. I'm going to come in," Emma's mom said resolutely.

"No, Mom, no, you can't go in there!" Emma practically shrieked.

"What is the matter with you, Emma? Cleo might have hurt herself!" Mrs. Gilbert protested, finally opening the door.

Rikki winced, Emma made a noise halfway between a shriek and a gasp, and Mrs. Gilbert merely looked confused.

Cleo was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, wrapped in a towel, her wet hair falling down her back, looking extremely alarmed.

"Cleo, dear, what happened?" Mrs. Gilbert asked, coming to see if there was something physically wrong. Rikki and Emma hung back, watching the scene play out with wide eyes.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Gilbert, really. I just got frightened because I almost slipped," Cleo fibbed, standing up.

Emma and Rikki exchanged a significant look, seeing how she was still covered in water, yet able to stand.

"As long as you're all right, dear," Mrs. Gilbert sighed, shaking her head. "If you got hurt, your father would never forgive me. Just be sure to watch your step next time, ok?"

"Will do, Mrs. Gilbert," Cleo replied. She still looked terribly shaken and Emma's mother could not see how a slip could have this effect on the girl. Still shaking her head in confusion, she left the room. Immediately, Emma locked the door behind her and both she and Rikki ran towards Cleo.

"What's going on?" Emma demanded. "Why don't you have a tail?"

"I don't know," Cleo wailed, finally letting her emotions loose. "I didn't change and I got frightened. What if last night we lost our powers because we went to the moon pool?"

Rikki swallowed hard, then raised her hand over the tub that was still full of water. Concentrating, she flexed her fingers, expecting the water to bubble and boil. Nothing.

Emma held up her palm to freeze the water, but again, nothing happened. She gestured to Cleo to take her turn. Cleo raised her fingers to move the water, but as with the others, nothing happened.

"What's going on?" Cleo asked. "Lewis said that the last full moon would take away our powers. He didn't say anything about this one!"

"I told you something bad was going to happen," Rikki intoned ominously. "I knew it. I just knew it!"

"We have to find out what happened last night. Maybe it's just temporary?" Emma tried to sound hopeful. It didn't work.

"I'm calling Zane," Rikki said, turning on her heel and heading out of the bathroom.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"What were you thinking about, Lewis?" Zane asked him curiously. "In the boat, I mean."

"Just a stupid theory. I can't possibly be right," Lewis replied, not looking terribly convinced by his own argument. "There's no way it could happen."

_A/N: Thank you for your reviews. I'd appreciate them, and I will try to respond to each! I hope you are enjoying the story, everybody. We need more H2O stories here!_


	5. Trading Places

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water does not belong to me and is the property of its creators, Channel 10, Nickelodeon, and other

Disclaimer: I do not own H2O. It is the property of its creator and distributors.

CHAPTER 5: TRADING PLACES

Zane's phone was ringing. However, he could not hear it, since he was just then stepping into the shower to quickly wash the sand and saltwater off of himself before heading to school.

"What the…?" he suddenly exclaimed shortly after turning the showerhead on.

Within seconds, he was crumpled on the floor of the shower, with the droplets of water beating rhythmically down onto his back.

"Ohgodohgodohgod!" he nearly shouted as he suddenly saw the reason behind his inability to remain on his feet—he no longer had them. Instead, he had a long tail covered in deep blue scales extending from his waist.

The phone continued to ring and he looked anxiously at the bathroom door that, to his sudden relief, he saw was locked. The last thing he needed was for his father to come in right now. There was no love lost between the two of them, and Harrison Bennett would have no scruples about handing over his only son to some crazy marine biologist, if there was profit or fame involved.

Panic attacks, however, were not going to improve the situation, Zane realized, so after breathing hard for a few seconds and regaining what little composure one could have under the circumstances, he reached up to turn off the shower and pulled himself onto the bathroom floor.

"So, now what?" he thought to himself. First, he was going to get dried off, he supposed, and then get up, and finally figure out what exact was going on. This was just too odd!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"I can't reach him," Rikki said, frustrated that she had called Zane three times already, and he still wasn't picking up. "Call Lewis," she suggested.

Cleo held up her phone and shrugged. "I already tried. Twice. Same thing."

"They're probably just getting ready for school," Emma said. "Or passed out in bed because they didn't sleep last night." She picked up her own phone and started dialing a number.

"I'll call Ash," she assured the girls. Lifting the phone to her ear, she heard only the faint buzz of the busy signal.

"Um, he's probably just talking to our boss or something. There's nothing weird about them not being immediately at our beck and call," she rationalized. "It's nothing."

Rikki looked extremely pensive and she voiced her thoughts. "Zane said I almost pulled his hair out."

"So what?" Emma asked, not seeing Rikki's train of thought.

"So—" But she was cut off by the ringing of her phone.

"Oh, it's Zane. Hold on," she told her friends.

"Hi, Zane, I've been trying to reach you, you'll never believe wh—What? Slow down." Her eyes went very wide and her mouth fell open. "No. No way."

"What is it, Rikki?" Cleo asked, concerned.

Instead of replying verbally, Rikki just pointed to the girls' phones, which were also going off just at that moment.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Although he would never admit it, Lewis was really getting tired of babysitting the girls every full moon. He was a scientist, not a nanny! But would they ever cooperate with him when he wanted to try out his theories? Noooo…

He had just walked into his own house and headed upstairs to his room quietly, so as not to wake his parents. Once there, he walked into the bathroom and turned on the tap of his bath. He had not slept at all and was covered in dried saltwater and sand. He also had to be at school in an hour.

"Just a quick bath," he thought, "To wash off the grime." Another thought entered his head, something that had been bothering him all night and all morning.

"Nah, I'm being ridiculous," he assured himself. Clearly, this was just a stupid idea born of not enough sleep and too much running around Mako during the full moon.

Yet ten seconds after he entered the warm water, he was faced with the same sight that Zane had encountered a few minutes earlier.

"This is not happening," Lewis calmly told himself. "I'm tired. I'm dreaming."

He reached out to touch the blue tail. As soon as he felt the scales, he jumped, aware that this was not a dream.

"I hate when I'm right," he moaned.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ash had just walked through his door and wandered into his bedroom, ready to collapse from physical fatigue and the exhaustion that accompanies a lack of sleep.

"What a night," he thought, as he went to lie down on his bed. With his head on his pillow, he reached over for the bottle of water on his nightstand. He was very tired and therefore let the bottle slip in his hand, spilling the few drops left onto his arm.

He brushed them off with annoyance and closed his eyes, but a strange tingling feeling suddenly overtook his body and while he had been fully clothed, he suddenly felt a draft across his chest, as if it was bare.

He opened one eye and saw that his shirt had, indeed, somehow disappeared.

"What…?"

A horrible sensation of dread gripped him, as he remembered Lewis's pensive mood that morning and tried to bend his knees, since his legs felt strange. He sat up on his elbows and saw that his knees were not bending. What he saw was a blue tail.

Alarmed, he grabbed a corner of his sheets and started to frantically wipe off the droplets of water where they had hit his arm. As soon as they were gone, he felt the tingling sensation and he was again human and fully clothed.

"This is not good…"

Suddenly, his cell phone rang and he reached to answer.

"Lewis? You're not going to believe what just happened," he said nervously, as he saw who was calling.

"No, I think I am," Lewis answered, biting his lip with anxiety. "And I think Zane might have a similar story to tell."

"So you think that this happened because we jumped in after them last night?" Ash asked Lewis. "How long will it last? It's not permanent, right?"

Lewis was pacing his room. He had spent the entire time he was drying off trying to ignore the nagging question: Was this permanent or something that would only last a day? Admittedly, it would be nice to be able to swim with the girls on their own terms, but he still wouldn't want to be like this forever. He had always admired their strength and ability to keep the secret. He wasn't sure that he himself had that kind of strength. This was not good.

"It happened because we went in the moon pool during the full moon, Ash," Lewis explained.

"Great. You couldn't have stopped me diving in, in the first place? And how come you followed?" Ash demanded.

"Because…" Lewis sighed. "Because I wasn't thinking logically. I just knew I had to help Cleo."

"Huh," Ash grunted in agreement. "I guess that's why I jumped in to begin with. What do we do now?"

"I honestly don't know," admitted Lewis. "We have to tell the girls."

"Um, I don't think so," Ash countered. He did not want Emma knowing about something like this. In a strange sort of way, it made since that a girl could turn into a mermaid. But a _guy_ turning into a mer…man? No, that was beyond even the most twisted logic. He'd prefer to keep this particular secret from his girlfriend.

"We have to tell the girls," Lewis stated, surprised by Ash's answer. "They might be able to help us out."

"No!" Ash was adamant.

"Look, they'll figure it out themselves sooner rather than later," Lewis tried to explain logically.

There was a long pause, and Ash finally muttered, "Fine, we'll tell them."

"Ok, call Emma. I'll call Cleo."

"Whatever," Ash replied dejectedly. This day could not possibly get worse.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As soon as Zane had dried off properly, he was returned to his human self.

"This is not going to work out!" he thought to himself. He was not great at being discreet about things. And if he got caught, well… It wouldn't be pleasant.

He instantly reached for his phone, thinking he was calm, and dialed Rikki's number, disregarding the window that said she had been the one calling him as he was taking his ill-fated shower.

"Hi, Zane, I've been trying to reach you," Rikki answered immediately. Unfortunately, he wasn't as calm and relaxed as he originally thought, and he started to ramble.

"Rikki… I. Oh, God, Rikki, I… The water… I was taking a shower and when the water touched me—"

He realized he wasn't making much sense and tried to calm himself again.

"Rikki, that thing that happens to you when you touch water… It happened to me. Just now."

He knew then that she had understood.

"We need to meet," she finally said. Her voice sounded strange. As though there was something she was not telling him.

"There's more, isn't there?" he asked gingerly.

"Yeah. There's more."

She hung up, just as Cleo and Emma were finishing similar conversations with Lewis and a very taciturn Ash.

"This isn't good," Cleo spoke up when none of them could say anything.

"Not a bit," Emma agreed.

"Could it get any worse?" Rikki growled.

Unfortunately, it absolutely could.

A/N: Sorry for the long space between updates. I was in the midst of exams and term papers. Please review. I'd really really appreciate just a few words about what you think of this.

-Tess


	6. The Tables Are Turned

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water does not belong to me and is the property of its creators, Channel 10, Nickelodeon, and other

Disclaimer: H2O: Just Add Water is the property of its creators and owners. It does not belong to me.

CHAPTER SIX: THE TABLES ARE TURNED

The disastrous night was followed by yet another beautiful morning, but this time around, it was a school day and the school bell would ring in just 30 short minutes.

The small group gathered in front of the school, on the lawn, was fully aware of this fact and tensely waited for somebody to break the silence that had kept hold from the moment they had met up.

"Zane said that there was more than just… our problem." Lewis finally asked, much to Ash and Zane's relief. They hadn't really known how to properly begin the conversation that would undoubtedly be awkward. "What's the bad news?"

"Oh, apart from the fact that you stole our powers?" Rikki nearly screamed.

The boys hadn't expected this piece of news. Even Lewis had thought that their newfound powers were something independent of the girls'. He hadn't even considered that there might have been some kind of switch.

"Your powers are gone?" Zane asked incredulously.

"No, our powers aren't gone, Zane," Rikki answered through gritted teeth. "_You_ have them!"

Zane raised his hands as if to defend himself. "What, you think I took them on purpose? Like I want them!" Ash and Lewis murmured their assent.

"Look, we don't know and, what's more, we _can't_ know what happened, because we weren't exactly fully conscious last night!" Cleo finally burst out. "So maybe you'd be kind enough to tell us? Lewis!"

Lewis looked at Cleo, back at the boys, and then again at Cleo. "You went after Emma, and then when we got to Mako, the three of you were all set to stay in the water forever. Or so you said," he added, after a pause.

"So I jumped in after you, and they followed," Ash said. He hadn't even looked up until this point, but now he was staring straight at Emma. "What I want to know is what on earth made you even go outside when you knew what the moon would do to you?"

Emma frowned. "I really don't know. You didn't have to go after me."

Ash was livid now. He felt as though Emma were rejecting all of his effort as something unnecessary and he did not at all appreciate her lack of sympathy for his own troubles at that moment.

"We went in after you because we were concerned about you!" Lewis argued, standing up for Ash. "But maybe if you hadn't been so difficult and tried to handle things on your own terms, we wouldn't have had to be concerned about you!"

The girls stood closer together and moved away from the boys. All three looked angry and were ready to verbally attack any complaints from the other side.

Soon, it was all-out war.

"Just where do you get the nerve—"

"Blame _me_ for your impulsiveness—"

"Oh, that's rich, coming from someone who—"

But their shrieks would go no further as the school bell had sounded and all six looked up, knowing what they had to do, yet aware that they couldn't leave it at this.

As the other students filed into the school, leaving the group alone outside, the arguments resumed. Apparently, school could wait. However, just as Cleo started to cry, Rikki was so infuriated she had actually turned bright red, and Emma was silently fuming, the school's sprinklers turned on.

All six cried out in alarm, the girls from habit and the boys from the knowledge of what was to come.

"Run! Run!" Emma cried out.

Ash, Zane, and Lewis did not need to be told twice, jumping into the nearby bay.

Since nobody was nearby, they resurfaced immediately, all three looking dolefully up at the girls, who felt relief and, at the same time, deep confusion.

"This is sooooo wrong," Rikki sighed, looking at Zane's tail. She wondered at its deep blue color, so unlike her own tail. She wondered whether she would ever have her own powers restored to her. "I just knew this full moon didn't have any pleasant surprises in store…"

"I'm sorry, Lewis," Cleo said unhappily, reaching out her hand to him. "We shouldn't be arguing right now. We need to figure out how to fix this, right?"

"Right," Lewis answered, giving a half-hearted smile. It was hard to smile, of course, considering how he was in a totally vulnerable situation and still had not learned how to actually swim with a tail.

Emma just looked dolefully at Ash, sorry for the things she had said when she saw how unhappy he was. He wouldn't even look at her, embarrassed by his new form and his own helplessness in the circumstances.

She shook herself and said resolutely, "You can't stay here. Someone is bound to see you. Meet us at our spot on the beach, ok?"

The boys looked at each other uncertainly.

"Can you swim there?" Rikki asked, a little surprised.

"We'll try," Zane answered her, grimacing a little and then quickly diving under. Lewis and Ash followed his example.

The girls watched them swim outwards, rather clumsily, since every once in a while the surface of the water was broken with a splash by a large blue fin.

"They're terrible swimmers," Cleo remarked with an amused expression.

"I just hope they don't have our powers long enough to get better," Rikki retorted.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A/N: Just to clarify, since these things were not made latently obvious in the first and second series, Ash is attending school with the other five; he works after school at the JuiceNet Café, like Emma. Also, the geography of the school is never made obvious—in my mind it is near the docks, as with many other houses and buildings depicted in the show.

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, and that this one is short… I'm a very talented procrastinator and I've really had good reason to procrastinate recently, as I'm traveling for the summer.

I hope you've enjoyed this thus far! More updates are coming and they will be longer. Please keep reading and reviewing—it makes me happy to know everyone is enjoying this! Spread the word!

-Tess


	7. Old Enemies

Disclaimer: I still don't own H2O: Just Add Water

Disclaimer: I still don't own H2O: Just Add Water. I do own some ideas in this story, though, so please don't steal anything original!

CHAPTER SEVEN: OLD ENEMIES

Quite often, we look at what others do and think that we could do it just as well without trying very hard. Ash, Lewis, and Zane had looked at the girls' swimming in just that way. They soon found out, however, there was nothing easy about it, and certainly nothing easy about swimming and simultaneously escaping detection.

Not one of them could get used to holding their breath for a longer time than a minute or two under the water and there was also the problem of the tail, which at the moment seemed more like a hindrance than a help.

The morning sun streamed down through the waves and glinted off their scales, something that Lewis noted with alarm. Attracting the attention of a fisherman out on the water at that moment was definitely the last thing they needed, especially since they hadn't learned to swim properly yet.

Of the three, however, Zane seemed to catch on the fastest. By the time they had neared the secluded spot on the beach, he raced forward, eager to get out of the water. Lewis and Ash lagged behind, eventually catching up. Once there, they were about to call out to the girls, whom they saw standing on the shore, but were stopped by the sight of a few more people than expected standing on that same shore.

"Oh no," Lewis said softly.

"What?" Zane and Ash asked in hushed tones, instinctively sinking below eye level behind the rocks that separated the beach from the water.

"It's her."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rikki was biting her lip, something she only did when she was very anxious. This happened relatively rarely. Still, this was a worthy occasion. Not only were her own powers gone, but she had also been obliged to hand them over to the person she felt was least able to handle them—her boyfriend. Cleo and Emma were thinking along the same lines.

"What if they drown?" Cleo asked, as usual looking at the worst possible scenario.

"Cleo, if you managed it, I'm sure that they will be fine," Emma said, alluding to Cleo's fear of the water before they became mermaids. Idly she wondered whether Cleo would still want to go swimming, now that she wouldn't be a mermaid anymore.

"Look, we'll meet up with them and go from there," Emma stated firmly, stepping onto the sand and heading towards the secluded spot on the beach that was usually secluded. Except right at that moment.

As the girls headed closer to the water, they saw a familiar face. The last person they had wanted to see.

"Hi, girls!" Charlotte chirruped, waving at them.

The three stopped dead in their tracks. What was she doing here and why did she look so happy? Had she found out about the boys already?

"There's a friend of mine who'd love to chat with you. I think you know her?" Charlotte motioned towards a person standing closer towards the rocks. The person stepped out of the shadow and into the bright morning light. It illuminated her pretty face and her blonde hair, but most of all, it showed that sneer that the girls collectively feared and hated.

"Charlotte's been telling me all about you, girls," Dr. Denman, the marine biologist and something akin to the girls' archnemesis said with a drawling tone, as if she had all the time in the world to investigate Charlotte's claims. "For instance, how you tricked me last time I was here."

About six months ago, the girls had been caught and held captive in the moon pool by Dr. Denman, with her research funded by none other than Harrison Bennett, Zane's father. They had managed to trick her into thinking that their mermaid powers were gone when the lunar eclipse took them away temporarily.

So what was she doing back? Of course, Charlotte's smug smile would explain it. Lewis had been wrong. She could not be trusted. And if the boys swam up now…

"What are you talking about?" Emma suddenly broke the silence. She had just spotted Zane swimming towards the beach and wanted to move all attention away from the shore. Cleo and Rikki followed Emma's glance and realized what she was doing. Cleo, despite the terror she felt every time she saw Dr. Denman, also piped up.

"We didn't trick you," she said, her voice almost faltering for fear and anxiety as she saw Lewis lowering himself down to avoid being seen.

"Maybe you're just delusional?" Rikki suggested sweetly. "Wouldn't surprise me."

At this point, all three girls had managed to focus all attention entirely upon themselves, allowing the boys the chance to swim somewhat further out and away from the looming threat that was Dr. Denman and her boxes of unpleasant-looking scientific equipment.

"Charlotte explained everything to me, girls. It's no use pretending," Dr. Denman said with that same smug expression marring her features. She looked like a spider that already has the fly in the web, and is getting ready to bite off its head.

Without adding another word, she motioned to Charlotte, who picked up bucket of water and unceremoniously threw it at the three girls.

Doused in the icy water, the girls' first reaction was to cry out. Charlotte and Dr. Denman mistook this for dismay. However, both of their smug smiles disappeared when the girls remained standing soaking wet and shivering for more than a minute, glaring angrily by turns at Charlotte, Dr. Denman, and the offending bucket which was now empty. They were still very much human.

"Why didn't they change?" Dr. Denman demanded angrily of Charlotte, who was open-mouthed in surprise and unable to explain what was going on.

"I… I don't know!" she managed to answer, still flabbergasted by what had happened.

"You really are d-d-delusional," Rikki said, through chattering teeth, rubbing her arms. She couldn't believe what a stroke of luck this was. If Charlotte had decided to do this yesterday or the day before, they would be in a very vulnerable situation indeed.

Emma's eyes were daggers. "I'm late for class," she pronounced. "You are too," she added to Charlotte as she walked away from the spot on the beach.

Before walking away outright, she scanned the water for any sign of Ash, or Lewis, or Zane. Nothing.

"Come on, Cleo, Rikki," she said with that same angry tone, grabbing her two friends by the arms and leading them away from the frustrated scientist and their astonished former rival.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Charlotte stood like someone who had been frozen in place. Why hadn't they changed? She was sure when she set up the sprinklers in the morning that they would come sooner or later to this place and had convinced Denman to meet her here. They would have waited all morning, but the girls came quickly enough. Just from the wrong side, as if they were meeting someone. But who would they be meeting?

Questions filled Charlotte's head, but she wasn't sure where to begin answering them. Her vengeance wasn't going to work out the way she planned. When she first contacted Denman, a local marine biologist, yesterday, she had been surprised by her almost-instant response to her claims of girls who changed into mermaids upon contact with water.

She was further surprised when she learned of Denman's history with the three girls. However, her zeal would have made Charlotte's revenge all the more sweet. _But why didn't they change??_

Denman soon turned her fury on Charlotte herself.

"Were you just wasting my time? What kind of prank is this?" she shouted.

"I don't know why—"

"Don't even say anything. I'm leaving. Good-bye," Denman said, her voice absolutely filled with malice and frustration. She had wanted this as much as, if not more than, Charlotte. Her past few months had seen her discredited, as she tried to convince her colleagues that she had, in fact, trapped three mermaids. There was nothing like a mythical creature, she thought bitterly, to destroy your reputation as a scientist.

"Still," she thought to herself, walking away. "That girl honestly thought they would change. Which means there's still something going on around here."

Perhaps she would extend her stay in this city. There might be something worthwhile here after all.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

_Author's Note_

Thank you to all of my reviewers and readers.

Specifically:

Rikki Bennett: A new chapter! Sorry it took so long.

MermaidRaven: Things have to get worse before they can get better, but I'm a sucker for happy endings, so don't worry.

NEW STORY: Indeed. But now that Denman's back, I'm sure that's worse.

Phoenixfire979: Hint taken. Here's a new chapter!

FireChildSlytherin5: Sorry that my story's only half of what you're looking for. Maybe if you stick around, you'll see it's pretty good on its own merit!

Olaf74: Sorry it took so long!

OutspokenDreamer: I haven't written all the exposition yet, but I was thinking of putting Ms. Chatham in, definitely. Thanks!

Debbie-Obsession: Thank you for your lovely compliments. I hope that the rest of the story meets (or exceeds) your expectations!

On a side note, I know my plot is a bit unconventional. That is the point. Stick around. I'm sure if you are bothering to read this, you like the show. I assure you, you won't be disappointed with where this story goes.

To all aspiring H2O story writers: Please write! I know I'm not the only one calling out for more H2O fics. A separate category would be nice…

Thanks, all!

-Tess


	8. Braving the Waters

Disclaimer: H2O belongs to Jonathon M. Shiff Productions and not to me.

CHAPTER 8: BRAVING THE WATERS

As a good fisherman, Lewis knew many secluded parts of the beach that were likely to be left alone this late in the morning. As soon as he saw that Charlotte had no intention of departing from the spot after the girls and Denman took off, he motioned to Ash and Zane to follow him. He was getting a little more accustomed to the water, as were the other two, so swimming was getting to be a little easier.

Once they had ascertained that nobody was nearby, Zane, Ash, and Lewis pulled themselves out of the water and onto the beach.

"Now I know how Ariel felt," Ash complained, rubbing his arms, sore from swimming and propelling him onto the beach.

Lewis merely lay on his back, panting from exertion.

Zane pushed his hair out of his face and sat up, looking attentively at his tail. It was so strange. He knew he had to get rid of it, because it was dangerous to stay like this. But he suddenly didn't _want_ to get rid of it. No, all he wanted was to go into the water again. And to stay there. Just as he was about to push himself back into the waves, the last bit of water evaporated and he was human once more.

Zane shook his head, dispelling the strange thoughts, but turned to see Ash and Lewis, who had not yet changed back, with a similar thoughtful look towards the waves that were lapping at the shore.

"Guys?" Zane ventured. There was no reply. "Snap out of it! Lewis! Ash!"

At that moment, Lewis also changed back. A few seconds later, so did Ash.

"What just happened?" Lewis asked, standing up and looking absolutely puzzled.

"I'm not sure," Zane replied, helping Ash to his feet, "But I think we should really stay away from the water."

"Well, obviously," Lewis commented, rolling his eyes.

"That's not what I meant," said Zane. "I think something is different for us. And not in a good way."

Lewis shrugged. "I think that this might just be temporary," he stated, not as concerned. He'd been through the whole rollercoaster with the girls and for the most part, the things that happened because of the full moon went away pretty quickly.

"Well, come on, we're late for school," Ash said half-heartedly, not really wanting to go to class, but wanting to retain some hold on reality. Everything that had happened in the past few hours was all so surreal.

Realizing that they were, in fact, very late, the boys trudged back towards the school. What they didn't realize was that somebody was watching them go…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was a fairly ordinary school day. Therefore, Rikki, Cleo, Emma, Ash, Lewis, and Zane all clung to it, hoping that the classes would not come to an end and that they would not have to face the changes that had taken place.

Of course, eventually the last school bell did ring, and they all headed outside, having agreed earlier to meet at Emma's house. As they gathered together, they realized that Ash had not shown up.

"He'll meet us at my house," Emma reassured them, not quite so certain herself that he was going to come.

All five walked from the school to Emma's house in silence, uncertain of what to say or how to say it. The added anxiety of Charlotte's menaces and the reappearance of Dr. Denman only further silenced them as they walked, not daring to speak a word out in the open.

Once they reached the house, they stepped inside, and Emma closed the door. She went to the bottom of the stairs and called out to whomever might be upstairs, "Hello? Anybody home?"

When she received no reply, she nodded to her friends and they all relaxed somewhat and went to sit in her living room. Ash, Emma noted dejectedly, hadn't been there waiting, nor had they met him on the way.

"Where's Ash?" Cleo asked Emma, noticing her agitation that he hadn't come and remembering their argument from last night that had only gotten worse this morning.

"I don't know," Emma replied, creasing her brows in worry. She smiled feebly and said, "I'm sure he's just dragging his feet. He'll be here soon."

"So what do we do now?" Zane asked, looking up from the spot on the floor he had been staring at since he had sat down. "Lewis says it might be temporary."

"Really?" All three girls chorused, looking hopefully at Lewis. He only smiled weakly and said, "It's a guess, based on what's happened before during the full moon."

"So, you don't know for certain?" Rikki hissed impatiently.

"Rikki, I don't know anything for certain," Lewis retorted sarcastically. "Neither do you. If you did, we wouldn't even be in this situation, would we?"

Rikki's eyes widened, and just as she was about to spit out some very unpleasant words, Zane got up and put his finger over her mouth.

"Yelling at Lewis is not going to make it better," he remarked. This only earned him a dirty look from Rikki, who angrily shoved his hand away and turned on him, instead.

"What were you doing in the moon pool last night, anyway?" she shouted.

"We've been over this," Zane answered. "We were going to keep you guys from swimming away."

"We weren't going to swim away," Rikki spat at him. "Don't you know that the things we say when we're under the influence of the moon are just rubbish?"

"No, I didn't know that, Rikki," Zane said quietly, but with malice. Now he was growing angry at her, as well.

Rikki stood up and began pacing around him, all the while shouting. "Maybe if you didn't have the attention span of a four-year-old, you would have—"

But what Zane would have done was left unsaid, as quite suddenly, the kettle standing on Emma's counter began to whistle loudly. Zane looked up, surprised, and found that he had been clenching his fists in his anger. As soon as he relaxed, the whistling subsided.

"Did I do that?" he inquired nervously.

Cleo and Emma just nodded, while Rikki made an irritated noise.

Lewis, who had not wanted to get involved in the spat that had just taken place and hadn't paid much attention to it, looked up with interest at this new development. As a person of science, he couldn't help but be intrigued by some of the possibilities that this change opened up.

"Enough already, both of you!" Emma said firmly. "Our number one priority is getting you back to normal and getting ourselves—" She didn't finish, unable to bring herself to say that being mermaids again would be normal.

"Emma's right," Cleo backed her up, going over to sit next to Lewis. "What else can you tell us that would help us?"

"Well," Zane began, ignoring Rikki's glare. "When we got out of the water and were waiting to dry off, I started thinking these crazy things."

"Oh, that's unusual," Rikki quipped. Zane merely shot her a look and she just innocently shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "What did I do?"

"Go on, Zane," Emma encouraged, motioning to Rikki to stop acting like a child.

"I started to think that I wanted to get back in the water and stay there. Permanently. Then I changed back and the thoughts went away," he finished.

Lewis nodded his agreement. "Yeah, I sort of remember thinking the same thing."

"It was probably just your imagination," Cleo said, trying to sound certain of herself. "Sometimes I want to stay in the water forever, but it's never enough to take complete control of me."

"Maybe it's different for us," Lewis replied.

"But how could it be? You were in the moon pool, the same as us," Emma answered, also thinking hard. "The only obvious difference is the color of your tails."

Zane and Lewis both winced at hearing the word.

Emma's gaze wandered towards the door again, hoping that any minute now, Ash would walk through.

"Did you try calling him?" Cleo asked gently. "Maybe he just got held up."

"I tried," Emma answered. "He won't answer."

"He's fine. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about," Lewis tried to reassure her. "Besides, he hated being out there. He's definitely not out there swimming."

Emma smiled a little, comforted somewhat, yet still nervous for an unknown reason. Why would he just vanish like that?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ash had fully intended to meet with the others and go to Emma's house after school. However, his plans were thwarted from the moment he saw Charlotte approaching him immediately after class.

"Ash! Wait, I want to ask you something," she called after him, rushing through the corridor and pushing past people to reach him. Having seen what he saw that morning, Ash wanted nothing more than to bolt from this person who had so wanted to harm Emma and the girls.

"What is it? I have to go," he told her nervously, trying to slip away. She would have none of it.

"Look, Emma's your girlfriend, right?" There was an eagerness in Charlotte's eyes, combined with extreme anger.

"Yeah…"

"So, have you ever noticed anything strange about her? I mean, around water."

Charlotte's question was so pointed and so specific that he stared at her for a second, before saying, "No, I haven't noticed."

They were standing outside the school at that point. "Do you know where Emma is now? I haven't seen her," Charlotte asked, disappointed by his answer. She thought, after all, that he still didn't know the girls' secret and would have started to wonder about their strange behavior.

"I haven't seen her either, Charlotte. I've got to go," Ash said, putting an end to the conversation and about to walk away.

Charlotte frowned and finally said, "If you see Emma, or Rikki, or Cleo, tell them I'd like to have a chat. Alone."

She walked away and Ash was left feeling horribly shaken, as if Charlotte had just threatened him, personally. He knew perfectly well what she wanted with the girls, and what she would do to him and to Zane and Lewis, if she found out what had happened.

"I need to go for a ride," he thought to himself. He started to head for the stables, taking out his phone to call Emma and tell her that he needed an hour alone to clear his head. He was sure she would understand. However, just at that moment, something in the water caught his eye.

The sun was making the waves sparkle, but there was something else out there. He wasn't sure what, but it was beckoning him to jump into the water. Every urge to go riding fled, and was replaced by a desperate need to be in the water. For a few seconds, his sense rebelled with this irrational desire, but in the end, the desire won out. As soon as he was sure that nobody was around, he jumped into the bay, swimming out towards the ocean as naturally as if he had always done it. His phone, which he was about to use to call Emma, lay forgotten on the grass.

**Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Continue to read and review, please! New chapters coming soon!**


	9. Out to Sea

Disclaimer: I still don't own H2O: Just Add Water

Disclaimer: _H2O: Just Add Water_ is the property of Jonathan M. Schiff Productions.

CHAPTER 9: OUT TO SEA

"I'm done waiting," Emma announced, two hours later. She had tried calling him dozens of times and he had not picked up once. If he had changed his mind, he would not be avoiding her and leaving her to worry—he would have called her and told her he wasn't coming. What could be wrong?

Zane and Lewis got up as she did, fully intending to come with her in the quest for Ash.

"What are you doing?" Rikki asked sullenly. She had moved on from anger to that state of indifference she feigned whenever she felt particularly frustrated or upset.

"Going to find Ash," Zane answered. He felt bad for Rikki and he could see that she was upset because of the loss of her powers, but at the same time, couldn't she see that he wasn't having an easy time of this, either? If anything, she should be fretting over him like Cleo was over Lewis. Instead, she sulked.

Cleo jumped up when she saw Lewis moving towards the door with Emma.

"You can't go!" she squeaked, running over to him and putting her hand on his shoulder to restrain him.

Lewis turned around to her, and saw her extreme anxiety.

"Cleo, I'll be back as soon as we find him," he told her, surprised by her reaction.

"What if he's out swimming?" Cleo said, tugging at her braid and raising her big brown eyes to look dolefully at Lewis.

"Well, then Zane and I will find him," Lewis told her, taking the hand holding her hair in his own.

"And if you don't come back? Like you said you wanted to?" Cleo's eyes had gone even wider as she imagined having to put up with not only losing her powers, but also losing Lewis to the sea.

"I said it was just a funny feeling. I was probably imagining it," Lewis reassured her, suddenly remembering that moment and wondering whether Cleo's anxiety was justified.

"Are you coming, then?" Emma asked the two boys, her hand on the doorknob.

"Of course," Zane replied, as Lewis echoed the sentiment.

Before going out of the door, Zane walked over to Rikki and kissed the top of her head, knowing she would probably jerk her head away if he tried to kiss her cheek or lips. In response to the kiss, Rikki glared up at the offender, and grumpily told him, "Be careful."

"Thanks, Rikki," Zane said to her, walking out the door. Lewis had already kissed Cleo goodbye.

Neither of the girls really wanted to join the search party, and they supposed that a mob of five would be more conspicuous than a group of three, in the worst-case scenario.

"Do you think Emma's computer is on?" Cleo asked, a few minutes after the door had closed.

"We can turn it on," Rikki shrugged. "Why?"

"I want to look something up on the Internet."

Rikki smirked. "You sound like Lewis."

Cleo smiled brightly at what seemed to her to be a compliment.

The two girls walked upstairs to Emma's room and sat down at her computer. After turning it on, and opening the Internet browser, Cleo typed in one word on the search engine: "Merman".

"Weird," Rikki remarked, wrinkling her nose to see it written out.

Scrolling down the list of results, past the articles on Ethel Merman, Cleo found a page that had a list of stories featuring mermaids and mermen.

"We can try this, I guess," Cleo ventured.

Rikki looked skeptical. "Why would any of this be real? I mean, these are just stories. People don't believe in mermaids."

Cleo merely gave her a withering look. "Right. Stories. Just like my siren voice, that magic potion Lewis made, and that stupid perfume thing," she said sarcastically, listing the various things that Lewis (and Zane, in the latter case), had discovered about them by reading stories.

Shaking her head, Cleo turned back to the page of stories, and Rikki also looked at the screen curiously. Cleo had a point, after all.

They both read silently over the descriptions of mermen.

"I guess you're right, they are just stories," Cleo said, bewildered by the description of mermen given in the story and the strange etching next to it. "They look nothing like that. Thank goodness," she added hastily.

Rikki scrolled further down and read the little blurb that generalized the depictions of mermen in stories.

"Says here they can grant you a wish if you catch them," Rikki told Cleo, amused.

Cleo giggled at the idea.

Then Rikki frowned and looked closer at the screen.

"What? What?" Cleo asked, trying to read what had made Rikki stare so intently.

Rikki read aloud the passage that had given her pause.

"'Mermen, unlike mermaids, avoid the human world and are generally wilder than their female counterparts.'"

She and Cleo looked at each other. Rikki was the first to break the silence that reigned over them.

"They're just stories," she said, shaking her head clear of the idea of never seeing Zane again, as he swam out further and further from shore.

"Right," Cleo said, deeply shaken. "Just stories. And Lewis said this would all go back to normal anyway, right?"

Rikki was no longer sulking.

"Right," she reassured her friend, no longer certain about anything.

A minute more passed, and then both simultaneously got up and headed out the door, regretting that they had not gone with the boys and Emma.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Emma, meanwhile, was also suffering a great deal of anxiety. Ash had not been at his house, at the school, or at any of his usual haunts. However, when they had gone back to the school a second time, they found his cell phone lying on the grass as if discarded, right in front of the water.

"Uh oh," Lewis voiced what they all were thinking.

"What was he thinking?" Emma nearly shrieked. However, neither Zane nor Lewis was paying attention to her sudden fit of hysterics. They were both staring transfixed at the sparkling waves, lopsided smiles on their faces.

Emma stared at them, alarmed.

"Guys? Zane? Lewis? Helloooo?"

There was no response and she grew even more alarmed.

"This isn't funny!" Emma exclaimed, standing in front of them, putting her hands on her hips. "Come on, we're going back," she declared.

As she attempted to grab each boy by the hand and lead both back towards her house and away from the waters, they seemed to be driven further into their trance. They both shoved her away, quite fiercely, and ran towards the water, diving in before Emma had a chance to catch up with them. In an inkling, they were farther out than even she had expected, sapphire scales glinting in the light of the setting sun. Then, they were gone.

Emma was speechless. Her shock at first being shoved away, and then at the whole enormity of what had just happened, struck her harder than a slap in the face, and she reeled back a bit. This must have happened to Ash, too. But why? What was going on?

Just at that moment, Rikki and Cleo had turned the corner on the street leading to the school and saw Emma in the distance, standing by the bay.

Alone.

"Oh no," Rikki whispered, as she and Cleo jogged towards their distraught friend.

"Emma!" they called out, making her turn around just as they reached her.

"Where are Zane and Lewis?" Rikki asked her with worry in her eyes. "Emma, where's Zane? Come on, what are you, mute?" she exclaimed.

Emma, her mouth still slightly open, only pointed to the water.

Cleo gasped and Rikki groaned.

"They didn't find Ash, did they?" Rikki asked, not exactly hopefully.

"They just… jumped in," Emma finally found her voice. "And they were completely hypnotized by the water. Just like they said. I tried to stop them, but…" she trailed off, now very frightened by the idea that they might do something stupid in their stupor, like letting themselves be seen, or worse, caught.

Cleo had started to cry, and Rikki started to bite her lip again.

"We found something on the Internet," Rikki filled Emma in, quoting the passage.

Emma put her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes.

"This is not good," she said quietly.

Cleo continued to cry.

Rikki crossed and uncrossed her arms multiple times, looking out towards the darkening horizon for any sign of Zane.

"We can't go after them," Rikki sighed.

"Why not?" Emma suddenly perked up. "They went after us, didn't they? We'll just take Lewis's boat! They're definitely at the moon pool."

"I guess…" Rikki said hesitantly, still unsure about what would happen once they got to Mako Island. The sun had finally set and the stars were starting to appear.

Cleo looked hopefully to Emma, whom she had always perceived as a leader in stressful situations.

"Let's go," Emma said resolutely. She still knew how to swim well, tail or not. And she would not let Ash get away.

Rikki and Cleo had similarly determined looks on their faces as they headed towards the dock where Lewis's boat was tied up. Unlike Emma, they did not have the advantage of a lifetime spent in the pool swimming laps, but they were equally prepared to get Zane and Lewis back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Zane and Lewis raced through the water, further and further out towards the figure that had beckoned to them from the shore. All thoughts of anything else fled from their minds, and only the water mattered now.

Zane's auburn hair waved behind him, as he swam further and further out. He had forgotten everything in an instant. His father, his future, even Rikki. Nothing mattered anymore except for this water, not even the figure that had made them want to swim out in the first place.

Lewis had similarly forgotten everything and was simply enjoying the rushing feeling of water flowing past him as he cut through it rapidly, his tail propelling him faster than scuba or snorkeling gear had ever done. He wondered idly about the figure out by Mako Island, but it had ceased to be important. The water was more important. Why would he want to swim towards an island? He switched directions and swam in the direction of the open ocean. Zane had also been swimming away from Mako Island and towards deeper water.

**Author's Note: I'm doing a summer course and might not update as often as I'd like. Please read and review, though, and I might have incentive to pick up where I left off sooner!**

**-Tess**


	10. Abandoned

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water is the property of Jonathan M. Schiff Productions.

CHAPTER 10: ABANDONED

As the girls rode out on Lewis's boat, the stars shimmered brilliantly and reflected in the dark water. Cleo shivered, wondering how she would explain to her dad that she had not come home. In her haste to leave Emma's house, she had left behind her mobile phone and would not be able to call him to tell him she was safe.

Rikki, meanwhile, was no longer sulking, nor was she putting on her usual front of "I don't care" attitude. Instead, she was sitting as still as stone, staring out at the horizon, her eyes wide with fear for Zane. She wondered if she would ever see him again. Something about that comment she had read had made her very anxious, and the fact that both Zane, Lewis, and by all accounts, Ash, had inexplicably jumped into the water and swam away only confirmed her fears.

Emma was busy steering the boat, although she did so distractedly. It had been a long time since the girls had been able to just sit in a boat and feel the breeze and drops of water on their faces. However, they were not enjoying it in the least.

Suddenly, Emma saw something in the water, a glint perhaps, illuminated by the moon.

"Ash!" Emma called out, suddenly abandoning her steering and jumping out of the boat, swimming after the figure she had just seen glide past underwater.

"Emma, come back!" Cleo called out. Rikki, however, was just about to jump into the water, as well.

"Rikki, no!" Cleo held her back. "It's dark, and it's deep here," she tried to reason.

Rikki's eyes were almost blank, and she didn't seem to accept any of Cleo's words.

"I have to get to Zane," she rationalized, fumbling to take her shoes off.

"Emma can swim better than we can, you know that," Cleo moaned, still trying to keep Rikki from following Emma into the water.

"I'm a mermaid," Rikki snapped, shaking loose Cleo's hand and diving into the water to follow Emma, or, more specifically, Zane.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Emma had first jumped in, she had managed to grab an arm, though it had been Lewis, and not Ash. However, he had twisted out of her grip and swum off as quickly as possible, not giving Emma any chance to catch up. She swam back to the surface and gulped down some air, desperate for breath. As she treaded water and started to orient herself to swim back in the direction of the boat, she heard Cleo's voice calling out her own and Rikki's names. Each time she cried out, the hysteria in her voice rose, until the names had blended together and all Emma could hear was Cleo crying.

"Cleo, Cleo, calm down. What's the matter?" Emma soothed, after she had climbed into the boat. Cleo could not stop crying.

"Rikki jumped into the water! I told her not to, b-b-but she wouldn't l-listen!" Cleo said between sobs.

Emma looked all around. The dark water showed no sign of Rikki, and she certainly couldn't jump into the water, blind, without any idea where Rikki might be.

"Did you see where she swam?" Emma said, trying to keep her voice calm for Cleo's sake, although fighting down a terrible fist of fear that had gripped her stomach. This wasn't a game, and it wasn't magical anymore. Rikki was underwater and they had no way to help her get back to the boat.

Cleo continued to sob, then said to Emma, "He didn't help her."

"What do you mean?" Emma said, confused.

Cleo looked out at the water, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

"Zane," she explained, describing what she had witnessed. "Rikki jumped into the water to go after him, but he was too fast for her. She got tired really quickly and was g-going under—"

Cleo's words were interrupted by another sob, as Emma patted her back gently. So much time had already past, and Rikki was nowhere to be found…

Cleo inhaled deeply and continued.

"She called out Zane's name, and he turned around for a second, but then he just swam away," Cleo finished, rushing over the last part, not mentioning that awful look she had seen in Rikki's eyes, illuminated by the moon and stars, when Zane had ignored her plea for help. Rikki had been too far away from the boat for Cleo to help her, and she had only been able to watch helplessly as she sank further and further beneath the dark waves.

The two friends looked out from the boat, which had been drifting with the tide. There was nothing that could be done now, and they hugged each other, as much for comfort as for warmth. Cleo continued to cry and Emma could only look out at the unforgiving water with disbelief.

There had been frightening moments in their time as mermaids, it was true. But never had their lives truly been threatened. Now, it seemed, the ocean was almost taking revenge on them for something. The boys were gone, probably for good, and as for Rikki…

Emma peered over the edge of the boat, into the water again, hoping to catch a glimpse of her blonde hair or her red shirt. The dark water would not disclose its secrets to her.

**Author's Note: This is a short chapter, I know, but I had to put it up. I'll have a new one soon enough, I hope. As always, if you have the time, please leave a review.**

**-Tess**


	11. Thetis

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water and all its characters belongs to Jonathan M. Schiff Productions. All other characters are of my own invention and therefore belong to me.

CHAPTER 11: THETIS

The figure that had been waiting for the boys out by Mako Island and had summoned them into the water groaned when she saw that they were headed towards the open water and had no interest in swimming towards the island and towards her. She had feared this outcome in the back of her mind, but had not actually expected it to happen.

Swimming out after them, this creature soon saw the scene we have just described being played out, and watched the blond girl slip under the water. Wasting no time, she dove underwater, swimming quickly to retrieve the girl before she could perish.

Her keen eyesight sought out something light on the sand at the bottom of the ocean, and she quickly spotted the girl lying amidst the sea stars and sea urchins. She swam towards her and hoisted her into her arms, then swam rapidly in the direction of the grotto concealed by the dormant volcano.

After just a few minutes, she had reached the spot and pulled the girl out of the water and onto one of the flat stones that jutted out into the pool of water illuminated by the moon. Then, she placed a hand on the girl's chest and seemed to throw a spark with her fingers as she flicked her index finger and thumb together. Quite suddenly, the girl jolted awake and began to cough up a lungful of saltwater.

As soon as she saw that the girl was going to be fine, she swam out quickly, in the direction of the little boat that still contained the other two girls she had seen. They would be worried about their friend, and she needed to let them know that the girl was fine. Even if that meant compromising herself…

"Ah, well," she reasoned to herself as she swam. "I've gotten them into this mess, haven't I?"

Within minutes she was back at the boat. As she raised her head from the water, she saw the two girls wrapped in an embrace, one of them weeping fiercely.

"Poor things," she muttered, swimming right up to the boat. Then, taking a deep breath, she called out to them as loudly as she dared.

"Hello!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Emma and Cleo sat together, crying over Rikki, who was certainly lost, Emma tried to be the voice of reason in this stressful time.

"We have to get back, Cleo," she said softly, disentangling herself from Cleo's arms. "We have to let Rikki's dad know…"

Just as Cleo started to nod in agreement, they heard a single word ring out in the clear night air.

"Hello!"

Cleo and Emma exchanged a puzzled look and looked in the direction of the sound.

"Who's there?" Emma called back warily.

And suddenly, in a flash, they saw her, floating in the water right next to the boat. It was a young woman (although Emma realized quickly that she was definitely something more) with long hair and large eyes. Her mouth seemed to be fixed in a permanent pout. From what Emma could gather,

"She is well," the girl in the water told them. Or was she a girl? Emma felt that though she looked to be only eighteen or so, there was wisdom behind her eyes and a certain bearing that made her seem older.

Cleo could only blink away tears and wordlessly stare at the creature in the water.

"Who are you?" Emma asked, still unsure. What kind of trick was this? There were no other mermaids, right?

The mermaid sighed and motioned with her hand to Mako Island.

"Meet me in the grotto. She is there. I…" She paused, thinking over her decision and realizing that she owed them an explanation. "I will tell you everything."

Cleo and Emma looked at the mermaid with hope in their eyes.

"Rikki is fine?" Emma asked again.

The mermaid nodded.

"In the grotto," she reminded them, then dove under the waves and swam off quickly.

Cleo and Emma both exhaled, feeling the slight exultation that comes along with tremendous relief.

"Rikki's fine," Cleo repeated, barely daring to believe it.

"Come on, we've got to get to Mako," Emma said, shaking her head at the confusion of the night. Apparently, everything was going to be explained to them. She hoped that "everything" would include the reason behind the boys' transformation and most importantly, how to change them back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Rikki had finished spitting out the last of the saltwater, she looked around. She was pretty sure that she had drowned and was dead. If that was the case, the afterlife looked rather like the moon pool. How anticlimactic.

"Hello?" she asked, feeling the awful taste of salt in her mouth and beginning to comprehend that she was not dead. The word echoed in the pool, but nobody answered.

"Hello-o-o?" she tried again, looking around for a sign of Emma or Cleo. Emma had probably saved her, but then why bring her here and then leave? Weird.

"Emma? Cleo?"

Rikki got up on legs still shaky from the traumatic experience. But at least she was alive! Whatever happened didn't matter, as long as she was fine now. But she wasn't fine. Just at that moment, the memory of Zane looking backward at her disdainfully, then swimming away faster, all while she lost her strength and stopped treading water, sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean.

The shock of the memory made her knees buckle and she found herself sitting on the sand once more. She sat in that position for a few minutes, trying and failing to console herself with something else. She would have died, and he was willing to let her.

The impenetrable, haughty Rikki felt a tear sting her cheek and heard a small hiccoughing sob break the silence in the moon pool. Had she been left alone for another minute, she probably would have broken down completely and cried until she had no more tears in her. Instead, just at that moment, Emma and Cleo walked into the small enclosure.

"You're ok!" they chorused, running over to embrace Rikki, who hastily wiped at her cheek to clear all traces of the tear that had marked its course there. Seeing them had brought her back to herself, and the mask of sarcasm and indifference returned.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine, but how did I—?"

A splash answered that question, and all three girls looked into the moon pool, where the mermaid that Emma and Cleo had seen was floating.

"Wha-!" Rikki exclaimed, backing up away from the water, all the same entranced by the sight of this mermaid.

"I saved you," the mermaid answered, drawing herself closer to the girls and raising herself up to sit on the ledge. She had the same golden tail that they had had until recently, and was actually quite remarkable to look at from the side. Unlike the girls, who had only been mermaids for a year and a few months, this mermaid had been like this her entire life and was more familiar and graceful with her body than the girls had been.

"Thanks?" Rikki said softly, still marveling at the mermaid.

The mermaid only shrugged in response. "I had to. It was my fault that you almost drowned."

"It was?" Emma asked suspiciously, walking towards the ledge where the mermaid sat.

When she saw Emma's expression, and Rikki and Cleo's faces as well, the mermaid sighed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yes," she said. "Let me explain."

"Please!" Emma requested. Cleo and Rikki nodded their agreement.

"My name is Thetis," the mermaid began, deciding to start from the _very_ beginning of this story. "I was born a mermaid, and lived among the merpeople. I never sought anything from humans." Thetis took in the astonished expressions that gazed at her and she continued. They had clearly thought that she was partially human like they were.

"But a few years ago, the merpeople began to disappear. One by one, the merpeople I had been among for all of my life were going missing, mermen and mermaids alike. Until finally…" Here, Thetis looked very sorrowful.

"Until finally, none were left but my brother and myself."

Emma, Cleo, and Rikki didn't really know how to respond to this story.

"Where did they go?" Cleo ventured to ask.

"They went to the human world," Thetis replied. "Somehow, they figured out a way to mutilate their tails and aquire _those_," she pointed at Emma's legs, wrinkling her nose with distaste.

"All of them?" Emma asked quickly, at the same time as Rikki demanded, "What does this have to do with us?"

"Yes, all," Thetis answered Emma. Then, she looked at Rikki and told her to be patient.

"Why?" Cleo asked Thetis, still confused by the mass migration.

"I guess they thought it would be better to live as humans, instead of hiding from them for the rest of their lives," Thetis said with a shrug. "Either way, they got tired of having to hide from humans who went under the water or set up nets around our homes."

"But why didn't you and your brother go?" Emma inquired.

Thetis made a face. "Join the humans? _Never_!" she spat. "Our parents had died at the hands of your kind when we were small, and we swore never to go near them."

"So you were the only merpeople left in the ocean?" Cleo wondered, sad to think that this could be true.

"The ocean is huge," Thetis countered. "I'm certain there are many merpeople still in the ocean, but scattered all over. It would be hard to find any."

Rikki huffed. "I still don't see what this had to do with us," she complained.

Thetis shot her a look. "I just thought I'd clarify from the beginning," she remarked, then went back to her story.

"My brother, like all mermen, was devoted only to the sea. Only now, there were no mermaids to tame his spirit and no mermen to join in his revelry. There was only me, and I could not serve him as a mate, nor was I a fitting companion."

"What do you mean?" Rikki demanded suddenly. "What do you mean, 'Devoted only to the sea'?"

"Well, all mermen are inherently wild. They are one with the sea in a way mermaids are not. A merman surrenders himself completely to the water, until a mermaid tames his heart," Thetis explained.

The explanation did not serve its purpose, and the girls still looked confused. Thetis decided to press on with her story, since there was still much to tell. She could explain the details later.

"So, to help my brother and to ease my own loneliness, I enchanted this place," Thetis told her audience, looking around at the moon pool. "It used to be a gathering place for many of our kind, and I hoped that some might want to return here. I used the moon's power to enhance my own, making it so that any former merperson who came back to this pool would be restored to their former selves. I hoped to bring back those who had left. It wasn't supposed to affect humans."

The girls were uncertain whether this made things clearer or more confusing. At least it explained where their powers had come from. Or did it?

"Unfortunately, the moon sometimes has its own designs, so my spell worked, but not completely. The first time it worked was with three human girls, who became mermaids, but only when water touched them. It was a cruel trick that the moon had played—"

"You talk about the moon as though it were a sentient being," Rikki interrupted her.

"But it is," Thetis answered her. "How else could it have its own magic? It is a powerful force that acts of its own will and affects us all. The point is, these three girls were still human, for the most part, and still my own kind did not return. I revealed myself to only one of those girls, hoping that she would understand my predicament and stay a mermaid permanently, returning with me to my brother and convincing her friends to do the same."

Thetis paused again, remembering something very painful, apparently.

"I think that I frightened her," she sighed. "At any rate, she figured out a way to become human again, permanently. I would have given up, then, and taken the spell off of this place, but the moon had its own designs. I could no longer control the magic I had started. The other two girls were subjected each month to stranger and stranger occurrences."

"Hold on a second," Rikki said, her brows furrowed. "The last time, that we know about, that the moon pool turned three girls into mermaids was more than fifty years ago."

"Yes, those were the first girls," Thetis agreed.

"But you're the one who cast the spell?" Rikki asked, looking at Thetis's youthful face.

"Of course. Who else?" Thetis replied, not completely understanding why it mattered.

"But you look so young!" Cleo exclaimed.

Understanding dawned in Thetis's eyes.

"Ah, I see. Merpeople do not grow old, and we do not die," she explained to them, seeing the astonishment in their eyes. "Until they become human, which was what I had forgotten," she finished. "The reason none of the merpeople returned to the pool was because they had all grown old and died while living on land. They would never return."

"What happened to the other two girls?" Emma asked. Technically, she knew. The girl that Thetis had spoken to had been Gracie, Charlotte's grandmother, who had lifted the spell and become completely human. Julia had died recently; the locket that Rikki wore had been part of a deceased estate. As for the third, Louise Chatham, they had become very well acquainted with her over the past year.

Thetis smiled at Emma's question. "One of the girls returned to land and, like her friend, figured out a way to become human once more. The other…"

"Died," Rikki finished for her.

"Not at all!" Thetis retorted. "Why, she is very much alive, and she is my brother's wife, now."

The three girls were absolutely agog, staring at Thetis as if she had sprouted another tail.

"Come again?" Rikki asked incredulously.

Thetis smiled. "That was Julia's trick. She was forsaken by a human boy, but she did not wish to go back to being a human. So she found me, one day, and I introduced her to my brother. They fell in love and she tamed his heart."

"But that doesn't explain—" Rikki interjected, but Thetis would not let her finish.

"Julia left the human world for good years ago," she finished.

Rikki tried again. "What about this necklace?" she asked, pointing to her locket. "It belonged to a woman who died, and Miss Chatham, Julia's friend Louise," she clarified, "Told us that it was Julia's."

"I suppose it was, once," Thetis shrugged. "But she left everything behind when she came to live in the sea permanently. Her friends had not spoken to her for two years before she left, so they would not have known what had become of her. Perhaps her friend recognized the necklace only."

This news was quite shocking for Rikki, Cleo, and Emma, but not enough to drive the specter of never seeing their boyfriends again.

"And the boys?" Emma asked.

Thetis hung her head, looking very guilty.

"I only learned that the moon had worked its magic again recently," she said quietly. "I was delighted to learn that there were also young men who knew of your double nature and were not bothered by it."

"Well, 'not bothered' doesn't mean that they wanted to join us!" Rikki exclaimed.

Thetis looked miserable. "I know, and that was one of my mistakes," she admitted, ashamed. "I thought that if I could lure them into the pool, they would be changed into mermen and they could join you, and you would all stay with us in the sea, forever."

All three girls cried out, protesting this directing of their fate.

Thetis sighed again, and raised her shoulders. "The other mistake wasn't entirely mine. It didn't work the right way, because the moon took away your powers at the same time. And as for the boys… I had hoped that because they cared for you and you for them, their hearts would not be seduced by the sea and they would not need to be tamed as mermen usually do."

"But they left us!" Cleo said angrily. "You were wrong!"

"Yes, I was," Thetis said. "And I'm sorry. But now you have to help me."

"Help you?" Rikki snorted. "You've done nothing but cause trouble for us. Why should we help you?"

Thetis's lips became very thin, as though with anger. "Oh, yes. You can do nothing, of course, but then you'll never see your beaus again. And I might just introduce myself to one of them," she hinted menacingly.

All three jumped to their feet in protest, or anger, or some kind of combination of the two.

"We can't do anything," Rikki replied furiously. "We're not mermaids anymore and we can't exactly go swimming out to sea to chase after them. Thanks a lot."

"Oh, is that all?" Thetis said breezily, ignoring Rikki's anger. It was beginning to irritate her, how she wanted to help these girls and their only response was fury directed at her. "No, leave finding them to me. You have to do something else."

"Like what?" Emma scowled.

"You have to catch them," Thetis answered.

"What? Why?" Emma demanded, thinking that this sounded ridiculous. The very idea of having to _catch_ Ash…

"Oh," Rikki and Cleo said simultaneously.

"What does she mean?" Emma turned to them, seeing that for some reason they understood what she was talking about.

Rikki ventured a guess. "If we catch one of them, we can make a wish?"

Thetis nodded.

"What wish would we make?" Cleo wondered. "To have the powers switched back to us?"

"Um…" Thetis looked hesitantly at them before telling them the truth, knowing that they would probably be quite angry. "Before you say anything else, just know that this is really the only thing that can be done to help all of you."

Rikki stared daggers at her. "What?"

"They can't be changed back," Thetis stated. "At least, not that I know of."

"But what about the wish?" Cleo asked, alarmed at the thought. "We can't wish for them to change back?"

"No," Thetis answered. "Because in order to grant it they would have to use magic on themselves, and that is impossible. No, you would wish to be mermaids again. Like you were before."

A long silence stretched as each girl thought about these scarce options.

"Two questions," Rikki finally said. "One, why can't you catch them and make a wish? And also, what do we do once we're mermaids again?"

Thetis replied quickly, as if she had rehearsed all possible answers. "I can't catch them because the wish only works if a human catches a merman, and I am not human at all. As for your second question, I only have a theory. Once you are mermaids again, their hearts will be tamed, since mermen usually have no interest in humans. Of course, that's just a theory, and I hope I'm right."

And while Thetis did hope that she was right, nobody could hope for it more than Cleo, Emma, and Rikki, who saw the difficult situation they were facing and realized that no matter what they did, there would still be some difficulties to deal with once the wish had been made. And what if they couldn't 'tame their hearts' after all?

Why couldn't everything be as simple as a few drops of water again?

**Author's Note: Thanks for everybody's reviews. Glad you liked it. This was a longer chapter, first to make up for the shortness of the last chapter and also because it involved a LOT of exposition. Oh, well. Enjoy reading. Review if you feel like it.**

**-Tess**


	12. Enemy Waters

Disclaimer: I still don't own H2O: Just Add Water

Disclaimer: H20 Just Add Water is the property of Jonathan M. Schiff Productions. All other characters are of my own invention.

CHAPTER 12: ENEMY WATERS

Lewis was enjoying his early morning swim. The sun had risen warm and it promised to be a beautiful day, and he reveled in the feeling of the saltwater everywhere, more a part of him than anything else had ever been. It seemed to direct his very thoughts.

He had some time ago lost track of Zane and Ash. He and Zane had found the latter swimming out towards the open water, as well, and exchanged cursory glances, not really interested in each other and more interested in the way the water summoned them.

Now, Lewis swam up to the surface for a breath of air, hoping to make his way out further from the shore, which was distasteful to him. As he neared the surface, he did not notice the large shadow of a boat looming over him and his head broke the water. He took in a few deep breaths and would have dived under again except that he heard a voice call out something… His name, he wondered vaguely? What was his name?

Turning around, he at last caught sight of the boat and on the deck, a human woman, her blonde hair caught up in a ponytail and her mouth wide open in astonishment.

"Lewis?" she repeated, staring with very wide eyes at him.

Lewis seemed to remember something vaguely about this particular human, but then realized that what humans did was no business of his, and so without wasting a second more, he dove back under the waves, not caring whether the human should see his tail, since he certainly never expected to see her again.

He swam away from the boat, deep under the water, and did not surface for another breath again until twenty minutes later, having made his leisurely way far from shore and far from the human vessel.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dr. Denman, for her part, sat back breathless, unable to fully comprehend what had just happened. She had come out on her little boat to be alone and think over the previous day's events, until…

She had just seen a merman and, unless she was going completely crazy, that merman had been Lewis. She knew that he had been involved with keeping the girls' secret, but she had no idea that he was also part of that secret. Why hadn't he been more cautious, though? Why would he have just shown himself to her? Were they teasing her?

Her ire rose at that thought. How many times would they continue to trick her? And how many times would she let them? No, now she would take care of them all. The day before with the girls had been another of their tricks and she could see that now. That girl, Charlotte, was as much a victim of those demons' plotting as she herself was.

"I'll teach them to defy me," Dr. Denman intoned to herself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That same day, as soon as school was out, Emma, Cleo, and Rikki took Lewis's boat out to Mako Island once more and, there, met up once again with the mermaid who was the instigator for all of the recent events.

They found her floating in the water, her arms folded on the outcropping of rock and her head resting on her arms. All three felt a pang, remembering times when they themselves had assumed this lazy pose and relaxed in the warm water.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, looking up when she saw them. "You've come."

"Of course we did," Cleo replied. She looked terrible, a combination of too little sleep and too much anxiety.

Emma looked steadily at the mermaid and then asked her, "Thetis? Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes," Thetis answered warily, not sure what kind of question to expect from this girl who had every reason to hate her.

"Why do we need to catch one of the guys? Why can't your brother help us?"

Thetis looked away from Emma and mumbled something, more to herself than to Emma.

"What did you say?" Emma demanded.

"I said," Thetis replied, louder and more clearly, "That I don't know where he is. Or Julia."

Suddenly, Emma felt a shift in her feelings regarding Thetis. Up until now, she had seen her as a horrible mastermind who had tried her best to ruin all the good things that they had. Now, she saw her in a new light. She was a lonely being who had been abandoned by her only family and desperately wanted somebody—anybody—for company.

"Thetis, I'm sorry, I didn't know—" Emma started to say, but Thetis cut her off.

"Please, don't tell me that you're sorry for me. I don't need your pity," she said, trying to feign disdain, but achieving only sadness.

"Did you find them?" Rikki asked, interrupting the awkward moment.

Thetis shook her head slowly. "I'll keep looking, though. They can't be too far out, yet."

"Where will they sleep?" Cleo voiced a thought.

"What?" Thetis asked, confused.

"Sleep? You know, lying down, closing your eyes, that kind of thing?" Rikki elaborated.

Thetis knitted her brows. "I don't know what that is."

"Don't tell me that merpeople don't sleep…" Emma scoffed with disbelief.

"I… I don't think so," Thetis tried to answer. She couldn't quite understand what this state called 'sleep' was.

"Whoa," was Rikki's only reply.

"We slept like always," Cleo said, confused. If merpeople didn't sleep, how come they continued to?

"In the water?" Thetis asked, now also taking her turn to express disbelief.

"Well, no…" Cleo realized. She remembered the night she had run away and how she had spent the night and the next night in the water. She had not slept a wink on that occasion, nor had she felt the need to.

"I'll find them today, I promise," Thetis said, breaking up the discussion about sleep. "I will, don't worry. Just make sure that you have the nets set up like I said."

"Do what you have to do, and we'll do what we have to do," Rikki said glumly. Now that the hour was drawing close, she didn't think she wanted to ever see Zane again. He had left her to drown.

Thetis noticed this girl's mood and a thought suggested itself to her.

"Rikki," she ventured, using the name that the other girls used to address her, "He didn't leave you on purpose."

"What?" Rikki asked, surprised by this sentence.

"Your boy. He didn't just abandon you. It's..." Thetis paused, trying to explain what her brother had once told her about the way the sea drew in a merman. "It's like when the moon has you in its grip."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Thetis explained, "That when you are struck by the moon, as Julia once told me, you think of nothing else, even of those that are usually dear to you. It is only the moon and yourself, yes?"

The girls all nodded in agreement.

"Well, that is what it is like for them. The sea becomes everything. All other things are secondary and therefore, negligible. He didn't meant to let you drown. It wasn't exactly his choice," Thetis finished, hoping that this would cheer Rikki.

It didn't.

"And if we can't get them back to normal?" she asked, angry at the whole world for the way circumstances had unfolded.

"We will," Thetis assured her.

Rikki did not feel so reassured by this. Neither did Emma or Cleo. However, what choice did they have?

"So, tomorrow at sunset, on the far side of Mako, right?" Emma asked Thetis once more, trying to clarify just what they had to do.

"Yes."

"We'll set up the nets and stuff now," Emma told her. She wanted this to go just as planned. If she stopped to think about the fact that she was setting up traps for either her boyfriend or one of her friends, it became too strange and she no longer wanted to do it. So, for the first time in her life, Emma was not letting herself analyze the situation and was merely taking orders from Thetis.

"I'll find them," Thetis assured them once more, then dove under the water.


	13. Catch of the Day

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water and all its characters belongs to Jonathan M. Schiff Productions. All other characters are of my own invention and therefore belong to me.

CHAPTER 13: CATCH OF THE DAY

Emma looked once more over her handiwork. The nets were set up on the far side of Mako Island, where Thetis was supposed to meet them the next day.

Cleo and Rikki stood next to Emma and looked at the elaborate set-up of nets, something that Thetis had described to them in detail. The shore was practically littered with netting, and it was set up in such a way that if one were to swim up to the shore, the netting that was standing up facing the water (suspended by several bars) would collapse, triggered by the pulling of more nets, right on top of the unfortunate soul who might have ventured close to the nets. Under the water were more nets, placed there by Thetis, and carefully positioned. With luck, nobody would come across the elaborate trap before the next day.

Rikki shivered as she stared at the nets, which were waving in the breeze. She remembered the terror and anger she felt when she had been trapped by Denman less than a year before, and she wondered whether this was the right way of going about it.

"Thetis, isn't there a different way we could…?"

But she trailed off as she saw Thetis shaking her head.

"This is the only way, but it won't hurt them, don't worry," she said, again trying to console Rikki and failing once more.

She then finished admiring the work that the four of them had done together and bade them farewell, repeating the time they were to meet on the next day and swimming off.

The girls heaved a collective sigh and wandered back to the other side of the island, where Lewis's boat had been left behind. The trip back to the mainland was silent, as each girl wondered what had become of her boyfriend and whether she would even ever see him again.

Once they reached shore, however, they realized that there was even more trouble to be had from this whole situation. The boys had been missing for more than 24 hours now, and there was something of an uproar near the decks, where Zane's father was standing with a horde of police officers, handing out photographs of his son and directing them to search everwhere.

"Uh oh," Rikki muttered, as they approached.

The sound of the boat drew Mr. Bennett's attention, and he turned to see the three girls arriving. He leveled his gaze at Rikki and ran over to where they were getting out.

"Where is he? Have you seen him?" he demanded, seizing Rikki by the shoulders and giving her a vigorous shake, as if by doing so, he might somehow make Zane appear.

"I don't know where he is," Rikki answered truthfully. "We've been looking for him."

Mr. Bennett fixed his eye on Rikki. He had not forgotten what this girl had once been. Although according to Denman, she and her friends had lost their powers, he still suspected them, and often wondered why Zane would continue to stay with a girl who had once been… not quite a girl.

"Did you do something to him?" he whispered menacingly, for Rikki's ears alone.

She, in turn, withdrew her arm from his grasp and stared at him.

"Are you crazy?" she said angrily. "I'm just as worried about him as you are! Probably more, since you never cared about him and most likely still don't."

Harrison Bennett was not used to hearing such reprimands from an upstart girl and was just about to bite back with a retort, when one of the policemen came up to him.

"Did your son know either of these boys?" he asked, showing him two photographs, one of Lewis and one of Ash.

Mr. Bennett turned ashen and cast a swift glance at the three girls.

"H-he knew both of them," he stammered. "Don't tell me they're missing as well?"

The policeman replied in the affirmative.

"They went missing the same time as your son, apparently."

The girls saw how this might all be linked to them, and quickly, and realized that things would be better if they were out of the way.

"We really don't know where they are," Emma told Mr. Bennett as they swiftly made their way across the deck and past the police officers. "If you find anything, let us know." Then, all three were gone, before anyone could stop them.

"They know something," Harrison Bennett told the policeman. "All three of them. Contact their families and interrogate them."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That same evening, Charlotte, after receiving a phone call, walked over to a place near the docks where she was supposed to meet the woman who, yesterday, had accused her of wasting her time. Hoping that this was related to the girls' capture or something like that, she had rushed over. Now, as she walked up to Dr. Denman's boat, she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach to see the woman's expression. She seemed to be almost possessed with a strange kind of joy.

Denman ushered Charlotte onto the deck and beckoned her to sit at a table. She herself sat opposite and, before starting to speak, she looked intently at the girl who had invited her back to this place and started the chase once more. Could she trust her? She would have to…

"Charlotte, I'm sorry about what I said yesterday," Denman said sweetly, putting on her best apologetic expression. "It was in the heat of the moment and I'm certain that you and I have somehow been tricked."

"Really?" Charlotte asked, still discomfited by the smug expression on Denman's face. She hated the girls and wanted them to be caught, but this was about something more…

"I wanted to ask you something about… Lewis," Denman said, examining her fingernails and trying to appear nonchalant.

"Lewis?" Charlotte parroted.

"Yes," Denman answered. "About our mutual friend Lewis. You… know him well?" She still had the nonchalant facial expression, but her eyes gleamed strangely.

"You could say that," Charlotte answered, still uncertain where this was going. "He and I went out before…"

She didn't finish, scowling at the thought of Cleo.

"I see," Denman said, nodding. "So, Lewis has always known about the girls' secret, right?"

"I guess so…"

"Did you ever suspect that maybe Lewis might—"

"No!" Charlotte interrupted the unvoiced thought, finally realizing where this conversation was going. "Don't be ridiculous!"

"Is it so ridiculous?" Denman said calmly, not bothered by Charlotte's outburst. "I always thought the notion of mermaids was ridiculous, yet I was proven wrong. So why not mermen?"

"You're crazy," Charlotte said, shaking her head and standing up. She had clearly snapped since they had tried and failed to trap the girls. She was just about to leave, when Denman called after her, still not in the least perturbed.

"Did you see Lewis today?"

Charlotte stood rooted to the spot and turned around.

"He wasn't in school today," she replied, a wave of dread pouring over her. Hadn't the night before or something like that been the full moon?

"Well, that's strange," Denman said, still speaking with a disinterested tone. "Because I saw him. Truant that he is, skipping school to go for a swim…"

She let the full impact of the word 'swim' to sink in.

Charlotte swallowed quickly.

"Stop being cryptic. What did you see?" she demanded.

Denman smiled broadly when she saw that she had at last piqued Charlotte's interest.

"I saw Lewis," she answered, with a predator's smile. "And I saw his tail."

Charlotte made as if to take a step forward, stumbled a bit, and would have fallen, except that Denman managed to catch her before she fell. She helped her back over to the chair behind the table and once more gave her that ravenous look.

"Now let's discuss how you're going to help me catch him, shall we, dear?"

Charlotte shivered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The questions would have dragged on all night, except that Emma's parents had finally come down and demanded that their daughter be left alone on a school night to get some rest. The officers who had been questioning her left, without having gained anything useful from the interrogation.

Emma had been sitting facing the wall for almost the whole conversation, and as her mother came over to her, she saw that the poor girl had been crying.

"Oh, Emma, they'll find him, don't worry," she tried to console her, stroking her hair.

"What if we don't?" Emma whimpered. If Mrs. Gilbert had noticed the change in pronoun, she didn't comment.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine," she said softly, helping Emma to her feet and leading Emma towards her room and into her bed. There, Emma cried as she had not cried in years, all of her anxiety and doubts emptied into the pillow. They had a plan, yes, but plans didn't always work. And knowing that she was responsible to some degree for Ash's disappearance certainly didn't make her feel better.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While Cleo had also endured an interrogation, it had ended much sooner, since her father was not the type to tolerate late nights, whether the police were involved or not.

Rikki, on the other hand, was still sitting in her kitchen, facing another officer, who continued to rattle off questions regarding details from the last time she had seen Zane.

In the background, she could hear the faint sounds of arguing. Mr. Bennett and Mr. Chadwick had finally had the opportunity to meet, under the most unfavorable circumstances possible, and had taken an instant dislike to each other. They had spent the entire time Rikki was being questioned yelling at each other and critiquing each other's parenting abilities.

Rikki rolled her eyes to the ceiling, wishing fiercely that all of these troubles could come to an end and they could all go back to what they had before. Of course, they had not yet caught one of the boys, so this wasn't the time for wishes.

Instead, she had to sit here and endure the many questions related to a missing persons report, exhausted both physically and mentally. At last, she could take it no longer, and she stood up and left the room without a word, leaving the officer in mid-sentence.

He, for his part, saw that these questions were not accomplishing anything, and he had been as eager as Rikki for it to be over. And even though he left, Mr. Chadwick and Mr. Bennett continued to argue into the late hours of the night.

"It's like _Romeo and Juliet_ gone horribly, horribly wrong," Rikki grumbled into her blanket as she closed her eyes and fell into a turbulent sleep punctuated by many nightmares in which Zane either watched her drown from afar or held her under the water.


	14. Heart's Desire

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water and all its characters belongs to Jonathan M. Schiff Productions. All other characters are of my own invention and therefore belong to me.

CHAPTER 14: HEART'S DESIRE

Thetis sped through the water, trying to follow the slightest sound and hoping not only to find one of the boys, but also to have the strength to get him back to the island, and not be spotted. She was beginning to wish that she had never coaxed them into the water to begin with, and simply introduced herself to the girls under different circumstances. They were friendly enough, and certainly did not seem inclined to run away as the other had done. She cursed herself once more for her stupidity and cowardice.

Suddenly, there, right before her eyes, was the tail of a merman. She took a deep breath once more, then swam faster until she was swimming right by his side. The merman paid no attention to her and continued to swim forward. Thetis seized the opportunity and flicked her hand in the direction of his head, at which movement the merman ceased to swim and began to float downwards, his eyes closed.

Thetis did a flip downwards into the water and seized him under his arms, then proceeded to pull him upwards, towards the surface, where he would be able to breathe. One of the reasons why merpeople could not sleep was, of course, that while they were able to hold their breath for a very long time, they could not actually breathe under the water, and, if knocked unconscious, would be in danger of suffocating if they remained underwater.

Therefore, Thetis was forced to struggle with her burden, trying to keep her own head below water to swim faster, while keeping the boy's head above water so that he would be able to breathe.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to the poor mermaid, she managed to drag him into the setup of nets on the far side of Mako Island, having checked that no strangers were in the vicinity. As soon as she pushed him into the contraption, which was built up in the shallows, it collapsed on top of him, ensuring that when he woke up, he would not be able to escape.

Thetis pulled herself onto the beach and lay there, panting and waiting for the girls to arrive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Emma, Cleo, and Rikki ran straight from school to the dock, where they rented a small boat. It was too risky now to use Lewis's or Zane's boats, since they were both being examined by police as evidence. In a few short minutes, they were speeding towards Mako Island, where they hoped very much that Thetis had succeeded in catching one or all of the boys.

As they finally neared the shore, they saw Thetis lying on the sand next to the nets, which had been collapsed. Under the nets, they saw another figure, trying to tear his way out. Emma's heart leapt as they neared and she saw that it was Ash. It was horrible to see him caught up in the nets and looking frantic, but it was nevertheless good to see him at all.

"Ash!" Emma called out, taking off running. Cleo and Rikki ran behind her, trying to catch up, each disappointed that Lewis or Zane had not been found by Thetis.

Thetis, for her part, now sat up and greeted the girls.

"Let me go!" Ash wailed from under the mass of netting, tearing at it with his hands and failing to fix his situation, but only entangling himself further. As he saw Emma approaching, he became afraid. Everything about his instinct told him that this was the enemy, and yet there was something about this particular human… What…?

Emma had run clear into the water, towards him, and was about to start taking off the nets, when Thetis stopped her.

"The wish, remember!" she warned.

"Right," Emma said, looking at Ash. He looked at her, too, but not in the way he usually did.

"Let me go, human!" he begged, raising his hands to her and pleading for help. "I will grant you whatever your heart desires if you release me."

"Ash, don't you remember me?" Emma asked desperately, seeing that he did not seem to recognize her. Rikki and Cleo had come up closer, though they were still standing on the beach.

"Emma, make the wish!" Rikki told her. "Come on, hurry up, we still have to catch Zane and Lewis."

Emma, realizing that there was no chance that Ash would remember her while she was completely human, took a deep breath and began.

"I wish," she said clearly, looking back at Rikki and Cleo on the shore, who nodded to her to continue. "I wish that Rikki, Cleo, and I," she indicated each person as she spoke, "Could be mermaids again." When she had finished, she looked at him with hope.

He regarded her with curiosity, for his part. What a strange wish for a human to make, he thought to himself. Still, she had made it… He nodded his head, and said simply, "It is done."

As soon as the last word had left his mouth, Emma, who had been standing in the water, came crashing down among the netting, right next to Ash, her legs replaced with a golden tail.

"Guys!" she shouted happily, turning to see Rikki and Cleo on the sand. "Guys, it worked! We're—"

But she stopped mid-sentence, as she saw that both Rikki and Cleo, though nowhere near the water, were also lying on the sand, no longer able to stand since their legs were also gone.

"I'm completely dry!" Rikki exclaimed, dusting herself off and wincing at the bruise that the impact of falling would certainly leave. Cleo nodded in agreement. "What's going on?"

They all three turned to look at Thetis, who was staring at them, her mouth open, horror and delight mingling in her expression.

"You didn't phrase it correctly."

The girls in turn stared at her, not at all pleased to hear these words. "What is that supposed to mean?" Rikki demanded.

"Emma made the wrong wish," Thetis answered, the horror slowly fading from her face, allowing delight to take its place completely. "You're… you're like me now. Mermaids forever. Unable to become human again."

Emma's heart seemed to skip a beat.

"What?" she asked in disbelief.

"You're proper mermaids now, like me, not like before," Thetis said, smiling broadly as she thought of the fact that she would have permanent companions now, who would not be able to leave her for the human world.

"No!" Cleo shouted, at the same time as Rikki said, "I don't believe it."

Thetis shrugged, as if to say, "You have your proof".

"This can't be right," Emma muttered, turning to Ash. He was still looking at her without recognizing her. Seeing that she had turned to him once more, he reminded her of her promise.

"I granted your wish, release me," he demanded of her.

Emma didn't quite know what to say first. Not only had this wishing business gone completely, horribly wrong. As if things weren't bad enough, Ash still didn't recognize her.

"You tricked us!" Emma cried, pointing her finger at Thetis. Thetis merely shook her head. "You said that Ash would be ok if I was a mermaid, and he still doesn't—"

Thetis's smile was gone as quickly as it had come.

"Perhaps I was wrong," she said sadly. "Perhaps something else will need to be done."

"But we're stuck like this for good?" Cleo moaned.

Emma turned to Ash, who was looking quite fierce now.

"We had a deal," he told her imperiously. "I granted your wish, now release me."

Emma could only stare, but finally found words, after a few seconds. "Can't I change my wish?" she asked, her voice almost shaking from the shock of what had happened in the past two seconds. "I wanted to be a mermaid like I was before, only when—"

"You said you wanted to be mermaids," Ash retorted. "The rest is your business. Now release me!"

Emma's eyes filled with tears at his callousness, but she moved forward to unhook the net from the poles that held it up at the shore, struggling to do so, since she was unable to stand. Rikki and Cleo could only watch. As Emma was throwing back part of the net, she brushed her hand against Ash's shoulder.

He had been watching her the whole time, following her every move with his eyes, wondering how he had come to be in this net to begin with, and then studying the contraption so that he would be able to avoid it in the future. His only thought had been to return once more to the sea and be free of this human monstrosity, until Emma's skin had brushed past his.

He felt a kind of fog lifting from his brain, his eyes… He blinked once, twice, to clear the fog, then looked at Emma with disbelief.

"You're free," she told him, her voice cracking and tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Emma?" he asked in shock. "Emma, what's going on? Where have I b—?"

But he never finished his question, because Emma had practically leapt towards him with a happy squeal and was holding him in a crushing embrace.

"Oh, Ash! I was so worried, I thought that I'd lost you forever!" she muttered into his hair, her arms wrapped tightly around him. He returned the hug, but did not know what to make of the situation.

"What's going on?" he asked her, surprised and confused. "How are you a mermaid again? And why am I still…?"

Emma looked up at him, then over at Thetis, who was smiling once more. Rikki and Cleo had pulled themselves into the shallows, and were watching Emma's exchange with Ash with something like happiness, since they knew that Zane and Lewis could also be returned. Still, there was a very large blot marring their happiness.

"Ash, can you grant me another wish?" Emma asked him.

He regarded her with confusion. "What are you talking about, Emma?"

Thetis chose this moment to speak up, as she had moved closer to the two of them, along with Rikki and Cleo.

"He can only grant a wish if he is trapped by a human," she explained.

Ash jumped to see this fourth mermaid.

"Who are you?" he asked nervously.

"She's a liar, that's who!" Rikki growled. "I can't believe we ever believed you."

"Emma, please explain what's going on?" Ash begged, still terribly confused by everything and vaguely remembering only that he had spent the past few days swimming.

"She's a full mermaid," Emma said, still clinging to Ash as if he was about to flee her again. "She caught you and told us that if we became mermaids again, you'd come back to us, but…"

She trailed off and neither Rikki nor Cleo seemed able to finish the sentence.

"What?" Ash asked nervously, staring at Emma, Rikki, Cleo, and Thetis in turn. "I don't understand, what's wrong?"

"We're like her now," Rikki finally said, her voice filled with loathing. "And that's what she wanted all along."

"No!" Thetis retorted. "That's not true! I wanted to help you."

"And yourself!" Emma added angrily. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't even need your 'help'!"

Thetis looked helplessly at all of them in turn. Cleo was whimpering, Rikki was fuming, and Emma was still buried in Ash's arms, only looking up to dart looks of pure hatred at her.

Cleo stopped whimpering for long enough to ask Thetis another question. "Can't Lewis or Zane undo this?" she asked anxiously.

Thetis shook her head. "Mermen can only grant wishes to _humans _who catch them," she said, beginning to realize that perhaps this permanent transformation was not the best thing that could have happened. But still, it wasn't her fault that Emma had said the wrong thing!

The enormity of this new change finally began to dawn on Ash.

"We're stuck like this forever?" he asked, horrified.

"You're not," Emma said with a heavy sigh. "You can go back. And you have to."

"I'm not leaving you!" Ash stated firmly. "We'll figure this out."

Emma only shook her head sadly. "There's nothing to figure out. We're going to be mermaids forever." She wondered to herself how they had gone from one extreme, losing all their powers, to this other, perhaps much worse extreme, being mermaids for all eternity.

Ash continued to shake his head. "That's impossible. We'll figure something out." He was still confused by how they had become mermaids, although a foggy memory seemed to come back to him, regarding a wish.

"You have to go back," Emma said again. Cleo and Rikki nodded their agreement.

"They're looking for you," Rikki said. "For Zane and Lewis, too. We have to find them and get them to go back, too."

"What about you?" Ash asked, unable to look into the miserable eyes of any of the girls.

"We can't do anything about ourselves," Rikki said moodily, ignoring Cleo's hiccupping crying. "But you have to go back and make sure they stay away from Mako."

Ash realized that Rikki was right, of course, but that did not make him feel better. He nodded and swam towards the beach, where he pulled himself onto the sand to dry off. Rikki raised her hand to evaporate the water, and, for a brief moment, they thought that he, too, might be trapped in that body, but soon he had changed back into a human and was standing up on the beach.

Emma indicated the boat that they had taken to the island. They had hoped that they might go back in that boat with one or all of the boys. Instead, Ash was going to go back alone. Wasn't life ironic?

"I'll come back tonight!" he told them as he got into the boat. "The moon pool!"

"Watch out for water!" Emma reminded him. He nodded, and soon the boat was moving farther and farther from view.

Emma, Rikki, and Cleo, once he was out of sight, turned to find Thetis and question her thoroughly about their options. She, however, had swum away while they were talking to Ash, using their distraction as an opportunity to get away from their wrath.

"I'm going to kill her," Rikki murmured, more to herself than anything.

"Not if I get to her first," Emma replied.

Cleo, however, was thinking of Lewis now. "We have to find Zane and Lewis, first," she reminded them, especially Rikki. "Then we can find Thetis."

"Cleo's right," Emma said with a sigh, her anger dissipating as she thought of how they still had to search this large ocean for the other two. "I'll stay in the moon pool to wait for Ash. If you don't find them today, I'll help you search tonight and tomorrow."

Rikki and Cleo agreed to this plan and, in a moment, dove under the water. Emma also swam, although in the opposite direction, towards the moon pool.

All three were happy to be mermaids again and to feel the water as a part of themselves once more. However, this return was bittersweet. This wasn't a part of them anymore—it had become their whole being. Becoming human once more was impossible, according to Thetis. The thoughts of each was wound up in the terrible truth: they were trapped as mermaids forever, and their families would never know what had become of them.

**Author's Note: Glad that everyone is enjoying the story. If you continue to read it, I'll continue to write.**

**Incidentally, this story has a theme song! That's not to say that this is a songfic. Rather, I listen to this one song on repeat when I am writing. If you'd like, check it out. It's called "We Belong to the Sea" by Aqua (Quick disclaimer: I don't own the rights to this song). Yes, the Aqua of "Barbie Girl" fame. Still, it's a good song, and I would recommend a listen.**

**That's all for now. The next week will be pretty turbulent. I'll try to fit an update into the end of the week. If not, probably the beginning of August.**

**Happy summer!**

**-Tess**


	15. Underwater Tag

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water and all its characters belong to Jonathan M. Schiff Productions. All other characters are of my own invention and therefore belong to me.

CHAPTER 15: UNDERWATER TAG

Ash brought the boat as close to shore as possible and carefully stepped off onto dry land. Casting a glance behind him at the glistening water, he exhaled heavily and turned to walk home. If his spotty memory was correct, he had not been ashore for more than a day. His parents were surely looking for him, and before he did anything else, he knew he had to take care of that situation.

After a brisk walk, Ash was at his front door. He knocked, since he didn't know where his keys had gone since his disappearance, and the door opened almost immediately. His mother stood on the threshold, and as she saw her missing son on the doorstep, she wrapped him in a fierce hold.

"Ash! Where have you been?" she cried, "We've been worried sick! What a stupid thing to do, to run away like that and not tell us!"

Ash didn't bother to respond right away to his mother, nor could he, as she was smothering him with her hug. His father came up behind her, displeasure written across his face.

"I didn't run away," Ash finally managed, once he had a moment to come up for air.

"Then where were you?" his father demanded.

"I was…" Ash looked down for a second, trying to fabricate something, cursing himself mentally for not having prepared a story before he came home. "I was with Zane and Lewis," he said quickly. It wasn't a lie, technically. "We, uh, took a boat ride a few days ago, and wound up without any petrol, got, um, lost pretty far away… Had no idea where we were, no phone reception. Just managed to paddle back…"

Ash's parents looked at him with disbelief, but there was the fact that Zane and Lewis had been missing, too.

"So, where are the other boys, then?" his mother asked. "They came back with you, of course."

Ash decided to take a chance and answer in the affirmative. Hopefully, the girls would find Zane and Lewis soon, and they would back up his story.

"Oh, thank goodness," his mother said. "We'll call the police and let them know you're back."

As she led Ash inside, he looked back over his shoulder, hoping that everything would soon work itself out.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rikki had left Cleo several hours ago and after a frustrating time searching in what seemed to be an endless sea, she had given up for the time being and nestled in the hollow of the reef.

"So, this is home for the rest of my life," she thought to herself, looking around at the brightly coloured fish and sea life, waving and darting all around her.

She scoffed, and found that the scoff caught in her throat. So this was it? She loved the ocean, of course, and she loved being a mermaid, but was that going to be her whole life? Would she be alone forever, like Thetis? Well, there were Emma and Cleo, of course, but was that supposed to be it? Even if they found Zane, which she was beginning to think could never happen, would he want to stay with her? What if they broke apart eventually? Was that it?

What had started as a scoff was now turning into a series of sobs, and she was startling the fish with the noise. Running out of breath, she swam up to the surface quickly, as her head crowded with thoughts of people she would never meet, friends she would never make, all because she was now an exile from the surface.

As she swam up, she felt something bump her shoulder, and would have ignored it completely, until she felt a hand grasp her wrist. She had reached the surface and saw that it was Zane's hand holding her arm, his face bearing an expression of surprise and worry. Rikki couldn't believe her luck. She had just bumped into him, randomly? That was easy.

"Rikki?" Zane exclaimed. "Rikki, how are you a mermaid again? What have I been doing? I don't remember—" But he was cut off by Rikki slapping his cheek with her right hand.

"Don't ever, _ever_, leave me to die again," she said dangerously.

Zane's eyes grew very wide, and his jaw slackened in horror.

"I did that?" he asked hoarsely, bringing a hand up to his cheek to soften the sting.

Rikki gave a huff, and then hugged Zane close, relief flooding her at finding him.

"We have to get you back," she said, into his hair. "Your father will be unleashing the dogs soon."

"How long have I been gone?" Zane asked, pulling away to look at Rikki worriedly.

"About two days," Rikki replied. "And we've been searching for you everywhere."

"But how are you a mermaid again? And what happened to me, exactly, that I can't seem to remember the events of the past few days?" Zane continued to quiz her.

Rikki just shook her head. "I'll tell you later. Right now, you need to get back to land, to your father, and let him know that you're fine. If you can, meet us back at the moon pool tonight."

"Well, you're coming with me, aren't you?" Zane inquired with the start of a smile.

"No," Rikki said softly, not meeting his eye. "Go ahead, get on shore, and we'll talk tonight. Ash is already there."

Zane gave Rikki another inquisitive glance, but knowing her temperament and the fact that he really should put the search to an end as quickly as possible turned and swam back toward shore. Rikki sighed and then dipper her head below the water again and swam towards Mako to wait for everyone to reunite that night.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Cleo, though upset, had decided in a moment of fortitude to save crying for later and had swum out to sea. She almost laughed as she thought about the irony of her current predicament: Cleo Sertori, who had hated saltwater and swimming in any form, who was afraid of almost everything under the waves unless it was in a cooked form lying on a plate at dinner, that same Cleo Sertori was now very probably going to going to spend the rest of her life surrounded by those very things that she used to fear. A cold chill seized her heart, as she realized, terrified, that in a way she had become a prisoner in her own body. Shuddering, she swam even faster through the water, when she saw Emma in front of her, gripping the blonde hair of another figure nearby, which was struggling fiercely.

Emma, who had caught the glint of Cleo's scales out of the corner of her eye, gestured to her to hurry. Cleo went from cold dread to warm relief, as if somebody had flipped a switch on her emotions. Lewis, whose hair was tangled in Emma's fingers, in his turn, had caught sight of his second assailant, speeding toward him and would have gotten away from Emma in a few more seconds if Cleo had not seized his upper arm with her fingers.

He almost immediately ceased to struggle and Emma released her grip on his hair, inadvertently taking away a few strands that had come loose in the struggle as she did so. Lewis, bewildered, blinked away the cloudy shield of the sea-lust, and looked from panting Emma to grinning Cleo. The latter took a firmer hold on his harm and pulled him upwards. Emma followed.

"You guys are back to normal!" Lewis exclaimed, embracing Cleo and kissing her cheek sweetly. "Or at least what counts as normal for… what?" he asked mid-sentence, seeing Emma shaking her head with lowered lids. "What's wrong?"

The original wave of relief from having found Lewis and restored him to his senses, the original chill returned to Cleo's heart and she buried herself deeper in Lewis's arms, sniffling a bit.

Lewis looked over Cleo's head to Emma for an explanation of this strange mood swing, but she only pursed her lips and said, "We'd better get back shore, and get you to your family. We'll be spotted out here." She dove underwater and sped away.

Lewis gently extricated the shuddering Cleo from his arms and looked at her, concern in his eyes, his forehead creased with anxiety.

"What is it?" he asked her quietly.

Cleo only shook her head as more tears came to her eyes.

"Emma's right, you should get back. Your family is looking for you," she said. "We'll tell you everything tonight at Mako."

Lewis frowned.

"Cleo, why does it sound like you aren't planning on coming with me?" he asked her.

Cleo bit her lip and put a hand to her eyes to wipe away the tears, something that she later realized was rather redundant.

"Just go, Lewis!" she commanded him.

Still concerned, but understanding the need to return, he nodded and said simply, "Mako tonight?"

Cleo, barely audible, said, "Yes."

Lewis sighed and turned to swim away. Just as he was about to dive under the water, Cleo grabbed his shoulder.

"Lewis?" she said, through her tears. "Lewis, promise you'll come back, ok?"

"Of course I will, Cleo," Lewis said, in disbelief that she would even be worried about that. "Of course. I'll see you tonight, I promise."

Cleo nodded and let him go. Once he had gone, she herself began swimming towards Mako Island and the moon pool.

**Author's Note: I am so very sorry to all my readers for the delay in putting up a new chapter. The holidays are coming up and if all goes according to plan, I should be having surgery and a three-week recovery period, during which I am certain I will be able to write more, as I won't be going outside or anything.**

**And though I don't deserve it, I'd really appreciate some feedback about the story. Enjoy!!!**


	16. Eternity at Sea

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water and all its characters belong to Jonathan M. Schiff Productions. All other characters are of my own invention and therefore belong to me.

CHAPTER 16: ETERNITY AT SEA

As Emma swam into the moon pool, she saw another mermaid lying on her back on the sandy ledge, her hands clasped and resting on her stomach.

"Rikki?" Emma asked her, swimming closer.

Rikki did not turn her head or make any sign to acknowledge Emma's presence. She just quietly and calmly said, "It won't go away."

"What won't go away?" Emma asked her.

Rikki turned her head at last and replied, "My tail. It won't go away, and I'm completely dry."

"We knew that already," Emma snapped. "No need to remind ourselves."

Rikki continued to stare just behind Emma's shoulder to the water glistening behind.

"You do realize we're stuck together for the rest of our lives," she told Emma. "Just the three of us. For the rest of our lives."

Emma frowned and began, "First of all, Ash, Zane, and Lewis aren't just going to forget all about us. Even if they wanted to, they can't now, because in case you forgot, they're not exactly normal anymore, either."

"All the more reason to forget about us. It'll just remind them of who made them freaks in the first place," Rikki answered, now turning onto her side and propping herself up on her elbows, a pout on her face.

"We're not freaks," Cleo chimed in, appearing behind Emma in the water.

"Oh, that's right," Rikki said sarcastically, "Nothing abnormal about mermaids. That's why we can just swim right up to the docks and explain to our parents why we can never come home. That won't attract attention, or draw out an unusual response. Or even better, let's just--"

"Rikki, shut up!" the normally placid Cleo shrieked. "We're going to fix this!"

"We don't know that," Rikki retorted. "You both realize that, you just don't want to say it."

"No, Rikki," Emma said, trying to stay calm and finding Rikki's surrendering attitude infuriating, "We don't know what we can or can't do about this. All we do know is that we're going to take things as they come right now, and wait for the boys to get back."

"If they come back," Rikki grumbled, to which Cleo replied by splashing her with her tail.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Not one of the girls was particularly patient, and the hours seemed to drag like minutes as they waited for the boys to return. Finally, all three turned their heads at a sound from the caves.

"Who's there?" Rikki asked, somewhat alarmed. They had expected the boys to swim in, as they were accustomed to doing, and if this was somebody else, they would need to get out of sight immediately.

"It's ok," a familiar voice answered, just as Zane appeared from behind a cave wall. "Just us. We had to slip out and couldn't risk swimming in. You wouldn't believe how difficult it was just to get out of the house."

Ash and Lewis appeared soon after. Never one to waste time, Lewis spread his arms out, indicating the girls, and asked, "Now would you care to tell us what's going on?"

Not one of the girls spoke up.

"I mean," Lewis continued, "Ash told Zane and me that he managed to turn you back into mermaids, somehow, but he also said something about it being…permanent?" Here, he looked to Ash for confirmation, who nodded with a worried look toward Emma.

Zane tried to catch Rikki's eye, meanwhile.

"It's not true, is it?" he asked her.

"Yes, it is," Emma answered him, her voice slightly trembling.

"But it can't be," Lewis insisted. "Look, you _have_ to be able to change back, right?"

"Not that we know of!" Rikki barked back, irritated by his certainty in the fact that their condition was reversible.

Zane, seeing how Rikki was extremely upset, reached out to touch her hand. She pulled away abruptly and gave him a cold glare.

"Don't touch me," she said gruffly. Zane gulped and slowly brought his hand back to his side, never taking his eyes off of his girlfriend.

"She just means that you shouldn't get wet," Emma added quickly, trying to prevent any hurt feelings. Zane looked crushed, nevertheless, to hear something like that.

"What happened?" Ash asked at last. "I mean, all I know is what happened after I came to my senses."

Cleo, who had been quiet until that point, decided to speak and tell the story of what had happened, starting with the boys' disappearance to Rikki's near-drowning, to meeting Thetis. Every once in a while, Emma would add to the story, though Rikki remained conspicuously silent, sulking in the background.

The boys listened with surprise and Zane groaned when he heard about how he had left Rikki to sink underwater. When the whole story was finished, however, Lewis decided to actually speak up and ask a question that had been bothering him since they had mentioned Thetis.

"You said that this mermaid cast a spell on the moon pool how long ago, exactly?" he asked distractedly.

"Over fifty years ago," Emma answered him. "And the first people to fall victim to it were Ms. Chatham and her friends."

"Well, did the mermaid—Thetis, you called her?—did she look like she was over fifty years old?" he pressed.

Cleo shook her head. "No, she didn't look much older than us. But she said she was much, much older."

"So—"

"Where are you going with this, Lewis?" Emma interrupted his thoughts.

Lewis just looked at the girls, his eyes wide.

"That must mean that you're immortal now, too," he concluded.

Emma, Cleo, and Rikki exchanged looks.

"What, we're never going to get old or die?" Rikki scoffed.

Lewis just nodded. "If I'm right, then…"

"That won't do us much good if we're stuck underwater for the rest of eternity," Rikki said. "Or worse, in a tank at SeaWorld."

Zane tried once more to speak up. "Look, Rikki, I'm sorry about what happened," he apologized. "I swear, I didn't mean for you to be hurt. I couldn't… We're going to fix this, I promise," he finished firmly.

Rikki just shook her head, unwilling to believe and not wanting to get her hopes up.

"There's no way to change us back," Emma told him. "None that we can think of."

Zane frowned. "Didn't you say that Ash granted you a wish because you caught him? Couldn't I do that? Or Lewis?"

"It has to be a human," Cleo said. "And besides, who knows if you'll even be able to now that you're not robots anymore?"

"I'm human right now," Ash said, and Zane nodded in agreement. Maybe they could 'catch' each other somehow?

"But not completely human," Lewis said, shaking his head. "It wouldn't work."

There was a pause during which Lewis clearly wanted to say something, but didn't. He had remembered a flash from the past day, how he had seen a familiar face while he was swimming. He hoped it was a hallucination, because if he had indeed been seen by Dr. Denman in his merman form, nothing good would come of it.

"Lewis?" Cleo asked him sweetly. "What's wrong? You look worried."

Lewis just shook his head, not daring to say anything and not wanting to worry the girls, especially if it was just a figment of his imagination. If she saw him, then she would go back to Charlotte and they might…

"Guys!" Lewis suddenly exclaimed. "I've got it. I've figured out how to change you back." All five people in the cave perked up to hear him elaborate. He stopped smiling as he realized the reception this idea would get.

"You won't like it," he said as a preface, "But it's the only way."

"What, Lewis?" Rikki asked, arms crossed over her chest and with a scowl on her face.

Lewis looked around at everyone and quietly said, "We need Charlotte."


	17. An Unexpected Conspirator

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water and all its characters belong to Jonathan M. Schiff Productions. All other characters are of my own invention and therefore belong to me.

CHAPTER 17: AN UNEXPECTED CONSPIRATOR

Charlotte sat in the café waiting for Lewis. He had called her only an hour ago and asked if they could meet to talk about something important. She had replied in the affirmative only after she felt Dr. Denman's elbow digging into her ribs. She shivered now, realizing the trap she was leading Lewis into if what Denman said was really true. But how could Lewis be a merman, she wondered for the hundredth time. It seemed impossible.

She fidgeted again as she saw him coming up, thinking to rip off the little microphone taped under her shirt and realizing that nothing good would come of it. She had made her deal with the devil when she drew Denman's attention to the Gold Coast again. Even if she figured out a way to get rid of the microphone now, Denman would realize that it had been destroyed and she would take matters more directly into her own hands.

Suddenly, Charlotte saw Lewis walk through the open doors and look around for her. She waved a hand to draw his attention to herself and he spotted her.

"Hi, Charlotte," he said tensely, casting jittery looks all around himself. "Look, can we go somewhere a little more quiet and private, please?"

Charlotte swallowed hard, realizing that there was definitely something serious going on and Denman might not be delusional, after all.

"Yeah," she answered quickly. "Let's go."

He led her away from the café and to another part of the beach that he knew was usually not sought out by tourists or beachgoers. His own spot had been tainted, he felt, by Denman's presence there.

"Charlotte," he finally said to her, when they had reached the spot and sat down under the shade of a large tree. "Charlotte, I have to tell you something. You're not going to believe it, but…"

Charlotte blinked fiercely and then blurted out, "I know."

Lewis stopped before he could compromise himself more. If she knew, that meant Denman had seen him, and she was still scheming with her.

"You… know." He repeated.

Charlotte nodded.

"Dr. Denman told me," she whispered. "She saw you."

Lewis drew in a sharp breath.

"This was a mistake," he muttered. "I should have known I couldn't trust you."

"Lewis!" Charlotte cried out. "Look, when it came to the girls, I was willing to do anything to get my revenge. But I still care about you. I don't want you to get caught. When Denman told me, I thought it was a good thing. It means she trusts me, and I can help you stay one step ahead of her."

Lewis gave a barking laugh. "That will do me a lot of good, if she knows."

Charlotte tried to soothe him by putting a hand on his shoulder, and he jerked out of the way. She merely winced and put her hand in her lap again.

"Look, I want to help you," she broke the silence. "Clearly, you trusted me enough to ask for help and I want to help you. What can I do?"

Lewis analyzed her face. He saw that she was being sincere, but there was still the nagging feeling that something was wrong. But what choice did he have? He had considered all other options. Telling their parents—any of their parents—was out of the question. As for the one other human who knew and might be able to help, Louise Chatham, she had not been in touch since she left the Gold Coast to enter a nursing home, and even before all this had happened, they had not been able to locate her. Charlotte was their only hope.

"Well?" Charlotte asked, watching him stew something over in his mind. What could have happened?

"Cleo, Emma, and Rikki are in trouble," he finally said.

Charlotte scoffed, and started to say, "Who cares about them? I thought you…" when Lewis cut her off.

"You don't understand, Charlotte," he said urgently. "They're trapped as mermaids. Something went wrong. Lots of things went wrong. And we need your help."

Charlotte's eyes widened. "They can't be human anymore?"

"No," Lewis affirmed. "They… never mind how it happened, they need our help."

"_Our_ help?" she said disbelievingly.

Lewis ran his hair through his hands. He didn't want to give away more than he had to, but this next part was necessary.

"Charlotte, I can grant you a wish."

The statement seemed to be so out of the blue, she didn't quite understand at first.

"I beg your pardon?"

Lewis repeated his earlier statement, and followed it up. "As a mer…_man_, I can grant you a wish if you catch me."

Charlotte stared at him, a large number of questions rising to her lips, which all crowded together to express themselves in a little noise somewhere between shock and disbelief. In the back of her mind, she noted that he had admitted to his condition aloud, where before he might have still denied it.

"Lewis, do you mean to tell me that…" she began, but was unable to finish.

"I need you to catch me, Charlotte," he told her, "And wish for the girls to be human again."

Charlotte felt like screaming. It was all getting to be too much. He had put himself in Denman's line of fire, the girls too, and it was all her fault. She may not have liked Emma, Cleo, and Rikki, but even she began to realize the horror she had set up.

"Will you do it?" Lewis asked hopefully. "I'll take care of everything, you'll just need to make the wish."

Charlotte opened and closed her mouth, as if starting to say something and thinking better of it. She wanted to mouth to him to get out of this now, to deny everything, but even she realized it was too late.

"Yes," she said breathlessly.

Lewis finally felt some of the tension sliding from his shoulders and a small smile settled on his face. He could bring the good news to the girls even now.

"Thank you!" he exclaimed, embracing her. "Thank you, Charlotte! Oh, I won't forget this!"

She just smiled feebly and said, "Of course."

"I don't need to tell you not to share this information with your new friend, Dr. Denman?" he added as an afterthought.

"Of course I won't," Charlotte said, for once speaking the truth. There was no need to tell her. She had heard everything through the microphone and was even now sitting in her boat next to the speaker and smiling contentedly, a shark that sees an injured seal flailing in the water and knows it only has to grab it.

A/N: Hello everyone! I am so sorry that it has been so long since I have written! It's been a busy year. I'm going to finish the story soon. Keep checking for updates!

Oh, and please review. Always appreciated.

-Tess


	18. The Trap

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water and all its characters belong to Jonathan M. Schiff Productions. All other characters are of my own invention and therefore belong to me.

CHAPTER 18: THE TRAP

Charlotte had listened to Lewis describe the nets the girls had already set up on the south side of the island and how he would swim into them and leave it up to her to take care of it from there. She had thought bitterly about the specific instructions he had given her on what wish she was to make.

"It has to be just like this, Charlotte," he had told her, "You have to wish for Emma, Cleo, and Rikki to be mermaids only when they touch water, like before. It has to be specific, ok?"

Charlotte frowned and nodded, somewhat bitter that he was dictating these terms to her. He wasn't bothering to ask her what she wanted to wish for.

"I understand, Lewis," she finally said, when he had finished. "I'll be there tomorrow at noon."

Lewis looked visibly relieved and gave her a warm embrace, saying thanks over and over again and finally turning to go.

She smiled wanly and just repeated, "Tomorrow". Once he was gone, she turned to go towards where she knew Dr. Denman was waiting for her. Her heart pounded in her chest. She wanted to rip off the microphone once more, to run after Lewis and tell him to avoid the whole place at all costs. But it was too late. Even if he wasn't there tomorrow, Denman would find him sooner or later. And if the girls were really trapped as mermaids, prospects looked even grimmer for them.

As she saw Denman approach her, she shuddered involuntarily. What a horrible woman this was. She began to wish, not for the first time, that she had never recalled her attention to this place and to the girls.

"Nice work, Charlotte!" Denman congratulated her, patting the place under her lapel where the microphone was hidden. "You couldn't have set it up better, you know. Tomorrow, we'll both get what we want. Don't worry, your boyfriend Lewis will get out of it all relatively scot-free. I'm not after him."

Charlotte tried to smile again, and felt revulsion stop her.

"You can't just take the girls, can you?" she blurted out. "I mean, they have rights, it will be like kidnapping."

Denman smiled her toothy, shark's smile once more. "Charlotte, you heard him. There's nothing human left about them. And if you're not human, you can't be entitled to human rights."

Charlotte gulped. "And Lewis?"

"Oh, him," Denman continued, nonplussed. "Lewis will learn that cooperating with me will be for the best."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lewis was treading water several metres from shore, where he saw the nets. He knew there wasn't any real danger and Charlotte cared too much about him to actually cause him any harm, but they still elicited an involuntarily spasm of fear in him. There was just something about the concept of being captured…

He heard something behind him and turned to see the three girls, all with nervous expressions on their faces, even on Rikki's.

"You're not supposed to be here," he scolded him. "Just in case, we decided you'd be in the moon pool!"

"We're not going to leave you at her mercy, Lewis," Rikki said belligerently. "We don't trust her, especially her new friendship with Denman."

"She wouldn't hurt me," Lewis tried to convince them for the seventeenth time that day. "It'll be fine, just stay out of sight."

"Why?" Emma asked. "If we really can trust Charlotte, why do we have to hide from her? And besides, what if we need to be nearby for the magic to work?"

Lewis rolled his eyes. "Fine, but please just don't get too close, ok?"

"We're fine!" Cleo squeaked, not looking fine in the least.

Suddenly, they saw Charlotte appear on the beach, walking slowly towards the water's edge and scanning the nets for any signs of Lewis.

"I'm going now," he said, taking a deep breath and diving under.

As they watched him swim directly into the net, which promptly collapsed and trapped him underneath, the girls all felt a twinge of fear. But that twinge grew into a very wholesome fear as they say Dr. Denman emerge from the jungle and walk towards the beach to join Charlotte and Lewis.

"Lewis!" Cleo shrieked, and swam towards the shore as fast as she could, with Emma and Rikki following swiftly behind to try to hold her back.

But it was too late. She had gone directly into the nets and they barreled after her. Within seconds, all three were hopelessly tangled along with Lewis, who looked from the three of them flailing in the water to Denman's calm smile with growing terror.

"Charlotte!" he screamed at her. "How could you? How could you betray me like this?"

Charlotte, for her part, looked miserably.

"I'm sorry, Lewis," she said softly.

"Please, Charlotte, just make the wish," he finally said. There'd be no help for him, but at least there could be a chance for the girls. "Wish they were human. Make a wish and let me go."

Denman made an irritated, impatient noise, as if this wishing business was nonsense and she could care less. Charlotte, on the other hand, looked from the girls, to Denman, to Lewis. Her mind was racing. She knew the risks she ran if she did this, but then, she'd have her powers once more. And with that, she could get away from Denman. Besides, she had the advantage of being on dry land.

"Lewis, I wish I could be a mermaid again," she said quickly, before she could change her mind.

Lewis's eyes widened in shock and Emma cried out, realizing Charlotte had made the same mistake she had.

However, the wish had been made, and Lewis found that his mind went completely blank for a second. When he cleared it, he saw Charlotte, completely dry, lying on the sand as a mermaid.

"What…" she began in disbelief, but Denman cut her off.

"I knew there was more to this than you were telling me," she said with a smirk. "You're a fool, Charlotte. Don't you realize what you've done?"

Charlotte, now terrified, raised her hand to defend herself with some version of her powers, but Denman was quicker and placed a cloth over her face, which left her in a dead faint. She then turned to the three girls, who were desperately trying to undo the nets. When they saw Denman approaching, they tried to raise their hands to defend themselves as Charlotte had done, but she was too fast. Soon, they were floating among the nets they were still caught in, completely unconscious. Denman started to drag the nets with their contents onto the beach.

"No!" Lewis shouted, "I won't let you do this!"

He didn't know how to use his powers, whatever they were. But he nevertheless was going to try to do something to stop this.

Denman paused in her efforts and looked steadily at him.

"Believe me, Lewis, you don't want me to leave them lying facedown in water. Unless breathing underwater is one of their hidden talents?" she finished smugly.

Lewis didn't know what to say. Zane and Ash were by the moon pool, where the girls should have been. They wouldn't even know that this had happened.

Denman had finished dragging in the nets and the girls were all lying on the beach, breathing steadily in a heavy sleep.

"What are you going to do to them?" he asked nervously.

Denman was focusing on the nets, which she started to cut with a little pocketknife.

"Don't worry about that. If I told you, you'd spoil everything," she said without looking up.

"I'm not going to let you do this," he said again, trying to pull the nets off of himself.

She merely flicked the knife a few times in response, and the nets were completely untied from them all.

"You're free to go, Lewis," Denman said in a friendly voice. "But try to follow or hinder me," she added in a deadly hiss, "And I'll make your life a living hell. There's nothing you can do for them."

Lewis realized that at the moment, she definitely had the upper hand. Hesitating, as he realized what he was leaving them to, he turned and dove underwater, swimming to the moon pool to get Ash and Zane. Wherever she was taking them, at least, it couldn't be too far. Also, there were four of them and she was alone and probably not up to heavy lifting. Once the girls woke up, they'd be able to defend themselves. And he and Ash and Zane still had time to find her and to stop her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As soon as Lewis had disappeared, Denman pulled a radio out of her pocket and said a few words into it. Three men appeared from the jungle shortly afterwards and, gazing in awe at the four mermaids lying on the beach, they quickly fulfilled their orders of picking them up and carrying them back to Denman's boat.

"Where are we headed?" one of them asked her once the boat's engine had been set in motion.

"To Ben's place," she replied with a smile.

A/N: Hope you're enjoying! More updates soon, story's almost over!

Please do review, I enjoy getting them!


	19. Ben Glover

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water and all its characters belong to Jonathan M. Schiff Productions. All other characters are of my own invention and therefore belong to me.

CHAPTER 19: BEN GLOVER

Ben Glover had taken his father's small business and turned it into an empire. He was 43 and he could have anything he wanted. Growing up, Ben had always been fascinated with the sea, and his greatest hobby was collecting it for himself. For the past five years, he had been building up his private aquarium, stocking it with rare fish and other sea life, often obtained by not very legal means. However, nobody was ever the wiser, and if his methods were noticed or questioned, his money kept everyone quiet and happy.

He was standing in the main hall of his aquarium now, looking alternately at the shark tank filled with rare breeds, the giant octopus behind the glass-covered recess in the wall, and the giant empty tank that stood in the middle, by far the largest and most unusual in this special room of the aquarium. He had never been able to find anything quite exquisite enough for it. At some point, he thought he wanted to keep seals or walruses there, but decided the creatures were inelegant and unworthy. When Dr. Linda Denman had approached him with a very interesting offer, claiming nobody else would believe her story, he gave her a bit of start-up money and a few hands to help out if she was successful. Now, as he closed his mobile phone and replaced it in his pocket, he couldn't help but feel a huge sense of satisfaction. The beautiful enclosure would finally have fitting inhabitants, and a few tropical fish in the water to swim among the lovely artificially-raised coral reef and keep them all company.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ash and Zane sat in the moon pool on a couple of ledges, engaged in quiet conversation to pass the time and ease the preoccupation of their minds.

"Even if the girls change back to the way they used to be," Ash was saying, "We're still going to be stuck like this."

Zane nodded, but then added hesitantly, "It'll be ok. We'll have them, at least. If they could pull it off, so can we."

"And if we can't?" Ash grumbled. "If we make some kind of mistake and reveal ourselves? We'll have a one-way ticket to a lab, and there we'll stay for the rest of our lives." After a pause, he added, "However long that may be."

Zane looked thoughtful and resolutely stated, "Better us than them."

Ash, though he realized the disturbing meaning of Zane's statement, nodded in agreement. He'd much rather be trapped himself, than have to see Emma suffer.

"I hate being this way," Ash mumbled, more to himself than to Zane, though Zane heard him very clearly.

"Yeah, I know," he told him. "But we'll figure something out. It's going to be fine." He had come a long way from the cruel and sarcastic figure he had been only a year ago.

Lewis raced to the moon pool at Mako Island and as he surfaced inside the cave, he saw Zane and Ash look up from their conversation.

Before either boy had a chance to wonder about whether the plan had worked, Lewis's panicked face told them that something had gone wrong.

"Where are they?" Ash and Zane demanded in unison.

Lewis swam closer to the ledge and pulled himself up. The other two instinctively shrank from the splash of the water and backed up a few feet as Lewis balanced himself on his tail and pulled himself all the way out of the water.

"You have to go now," he commanded them. "I need time to dry off, and I'll follow, but you have to get to them now!"

"They're by the nets?" Zane asked for confirmation.

Lewis nodded quickly. "She's there, you have to hurry. I think she's alone."

Zane nodded again. Ash followed Zane along the dry path out of the cave. The two emerged outside and took off at a run towards the beach where they knew they would find the girls and Dr. Denman. At least, that was what they thought. They hadn't expected the four sets of footprints, and the sign that one of the mermaids had been literally dragged away along the sand. They followed the footsteps, which led to another part of the beach, and from there, the only signs they saw was that a boat had been moored in that spot a short while ago, but had since sped away.

"She had help," Zane whispered, as he felt his insides chill. Their worst nightmare had come true, and the girls couldn't defend themselves.

"And Charlotte?" Ash asked quietly, not sure whether he wanted the answer.

"I'm sure she was one of the ones who helped!" Zane spat, furious with himself for allowing this to happen and sitting idly by while his friends and girlfriend were kidnapped, furious with Lewis for thinking up such an idiotic plan, and furious, most of all, with Dr. Denman, who was the cause of all this trouble.

They stood rooted to the spot, watching the horizon for a few minutes, and were about to head back when they saw Lewis running towards them from the other beach.

"You let her get away?!" he shouted, struggling to catch his breath.

Zane clenched one of his hands into a fist and looked again at the water where the boat had been.

"Denman wasn't alone, Lewis," he replied, suddenly weary as everything started to settle on him. "Maybe Charlotte helped her. But she clearly had other people."

Lewis shook his head. "It's impossible. Charlotte cursed herself before I could stop her. She's a mermaid again, just like they are."

"She made her wish," Zane said with a mirthless laugh. "And now she'll pay for it, but so will they."

Lewis thought for a minute.

"We have to go back to the mainland. Wherever she is, she won't be able to get far, and, if anything, we'll have to ask your dad for help," he finished.

Zane looked as if he had been struck.

"No way," he answered quickly. "My father won't do a single thing to help. He'll make things worse. For all we know, he could have lent her the extra help."

Ash sighed, finally deciding to contribute to the conversation.

"Maybe that's the best we can hope for," he said. "At least that way we'll know where they are."

Zane's face was white with rage.

"How could you let this happen, Lewis?" he seethed, venting his frustration and misery out on the most immediate target.

"I couldn't do anything," Lewis said sadly. "She'd knocked all of them out with chloroform, and I couldn't do anything against her the way I was, stuck in that awful net," here he shuddered, "and she would have knocked me out, too, if I hadn't bolted. I thought she was alone and we had time."

"We still do," Ash said resolutely. He looked again at the horizon, and then ran for the water, diving in quickly and swimming out towards the mainland. Zane and Lewis followed swiftly behind, not caring about anything except making it back in time to save the girls from an eternal life spent in a laboratory.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ben heard the click of a lock and saw Linda Denman glide in, as his astonished butler held the door for her and the three men with stretchers accompanying her.

"Linda!" he exclaimed, coming towards her with outstretched arms. "Linda, you marvelous girl."

He looked at his prey, all three from the grainy photograph of yesteryear that she had shown him. Anyone else would have waved it away as a fake, but Ben had an eye for these kinds of things, and hoped that it might be real, a dream come true for a collector like himself.

"My goodness, they're exquisite," he said, reaching out to touch the brunette's fin. She twitched in her sleep as he did so.

"They'll be awake soon, Ben," Denman began. "You want to make sure they are secure before that happens. They can do things with water… they'll try to defend themselves."

"Don't worry about that, Linda," he answered her cheerily. "I've got it all figured out. You said they're like this permanently now?"

Denman shrugged her shoulders. "Their friend said so."

"This friend," Ben continued the thought, "He isn't like this himself?"

Denman gave a barking laugh, hoping to hide the facts about Lewis for the moment. She needed him, just in case, and had no intention of sharing him with Ben. Despite the man's generosity, she still didn't trust him entirely. That was why Charlotte had been restrained in the boat, and the three men paid extra to keep silent about the fourth. Ben wasn't expecting her, anyway, and she might prove useful to her… just in case.

"Don't worry, Linda," he repeated, reassuring her with a friendly hand on her shoulder that steered her to the space between the shark tank and the large tank intended for the three mermaids. "Do you see this lever?" he asked, pointing to a lever on the well next to the shark tank.

"What about it?" Denman asked apprehensively.

"It opens a small gate between the sharks and their enclosure," he said, smacking his lips with satisfaction. "They try anything funny, and they'll find themselves in a very uncomfortable situation," he hissed.

"But--" Denman began, but was interrupted once more by Ben.

"But if that's not enough, only consider that the glass is very thick and there is absolutely no way for them to escape, either up or down," he drawled. "And even if they did break out, where on earth would they go?" he said with a smile. "They can't walk out of here, you know."

Denman finally relaxed a bit. He had indeed figured everything out. She wondered, not for the first time, whether he had built the enclosure with mermaids in mind, though it seemed silly to think that. How could he have known?

While they were speaking, Ben had signaled his main guard to open the only glass gate of the large enclosure, and the three stretchers were moved onto the sandy beach inside.

"In the water?" Ben asked the marine biologist, "Or out?"

"You can't put them in the water when they're unconscious," she replied. "As far as I can tell they can hold their breath for a long time; they don't have gills like fish."

"Set them on the sand, then," he told the men with a lazy wave of his hand. "And then get out of there quickly. They'll come to soon enough; you don't want to face their ire."

The men were all too happy to obey, and soon Emma, Cleo, and Rikki were lying on the sand inside the enclosure, the water of the tank lapping at the tips of their fins.

"Well, then, Linda, shall we celebrate?" Ben said, surveying the three of them. "We'll come back later, when they wake up."

Denman smirked. "I don't know that I want to be here for that."

"Indeed," Ben answered again, grinning. Then, more somberly, "Linda, I must come clean with you."

She looked up at him. He was significantly taller than she was, but she met his eye steadily. She knew it was coming, and she had prepared.

"Look here, my dear, I want to keep them as pets. They need to be happy and healthy and pretty," he told her, listing off the qualities on his fingers. "And that won't be the case if you're poking them and prodding them for the sake of your experiments."

She smiled inwardly, but raised her voice to protest.

Ben had expected this rebuttal, and silenced it swiftly.

"You're my friend, Linda, and I'll give you access to come visit my aquarium like nobody else will have," he said sweetly, "But if you try to take them away from me," he finished with a snarl, "I'll move them somewhere else, where you won't be able to find them, and I'll keep them there until they drag you to the asylum for your hallucinations."

Denman felt herself grow cold from this little speech. Still, it didn't matter. She didn't need three for her experiments, one would do. And she had her. Nevertheless, Glover's expression had grown so predatory and dangerous, she was suddenly afraid.

"I understand you perfectly, Ben," she said finally, attempting a smile. "I'm perfectly content with that."

"Are you?" he expressed some surprise. He had expected her to put up more of a fight. Maybe he had overestimated her determination. "In that case, what kind of compensation do you want for the… catch?"

Denman smiled more broadly. "Oh, you know what's appropriate."

He nodded, and brought out a checkbook from his pocket. He wrote on it for a minute, and handed her a check with a tidy sum on it. Denman stared at it for a second, winded by the amount.

"They'll… they'll give me this at the bank?"

"Would you prefer it in cash?" he asked her.

"No," she replied with another smile, this one greedy and satisfied. She'd never have to write another grant proposal again, as long as she lived. And then there were going to be the profits from the research on the other…

"Then shall we celebrate, my dear?" he asked her, content that the matter was settled.

"Oh, yes, absolutely," she told him. "I'd love a glass of champagne."

"Yes, the occasion does call for champagne, doesn't it?" he drawled, motioning to the men to follow him and Denman out of the main hall, with the butler closing the doors behind them all. "Shall we offer some to my new pets? Or are they still too young?"

They both laughed at the little joke, and continued to Glover's parlour. The astonished assistants looked back at the closed door, marveling that any man could act so casually when he came to possess three mythical creatures.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The door had been closed for 23 minutes when all three mermaids began to stir.

Emma was the first to jolt upright and survey her surroundings with bewilderment. She saw that she was lying on a beach, next to what appeared to be a very deep and wide pool of water, where she could spot the glint of brightly coloured fish every once in a while. The beach had a few rocks and there was a large flat rock jutting out of the middle of the pool. The beach itself wasn't very large, and seemed to slope downwards, though what it led to was obscured by some tall grasses. She thought for a moment they might be outside, except that the light was too gentle to be natural. She looked upwards and saw a ceiling high above, and all around the beach she followed the line of a circular glass wall, its roots obscured by the grasses and the slope of the sand dunes. Beyond the wall, she could see a walkway with a black floor and what looked like more tanks. One clearly contained a very large and menacing tentacle, emerging from a cropping of coral.

"Rikki! Cleo!" Emma roused them, seeing them lying nearby and trying to open their eyes, fighting against the headiness brought on by the chloroform. She shook them both, and they also sat up.

"Where are we?" Rikki asked softly, her eyes filled with terror. It was as if Denman had somehow built a special cage for them.

"I don't know," Emma replied. "Do you see anyone?"

Cleo was paralyzed with fear, it seemed, and couldn't get a word out. She tried several times to say something, but only succeeded after the eighth attempt.

"Lewis."

Both Emma and Rikki looked to her.

"Maybe Denman has him somewhere else," Emma suggested gently, "With Charlotte. Or maybe he got away."

Cleo nodded fiercely, trying to keep her eyes from stinging with the tears that were gathering there, and not succeeding. Soon, there were fat drops rolling down her cheeks. She had never felt so exposed. There was nobody around to look at her, but she felt ashamed of her mermaid body for the first time in a very long time, and wanted to hide somewhere, anywhere, where nobody could look at her. Before either Emma or Rikki could stop her, she had pushed herself into the large pool of water and was swimming downwards.

"Cleo!" Rikki and Emma both shouted in dismay, and dove in after her. However, if Cleo was expecting there to be some sort of underground privacy in the water, she was sorely mistaken. The entire pool was a tank beneath the actual main level where the enclosure and the beach was, and it was surrounded on all sides by a walk, clearly designed for observing whatever was swimming in the water. A coral reef with brightly coloured fish and other reef life grew up out of the center, and Cleo desperately swam around it, trying to find a place where she could secrete herself out of sight. Emma and Rikki both regarded the walk behind the glass walls of the tank with wary eyes. It was too perfectly designed. Had Denman been building this since their last meeting?

Then, Emma caught sight of something, and touched Rikki's shoulder to get her attention and pointed to one of the tank walls. It seemed to be connected to another tank, where menacing sharks of all kinds swam. Hammerheads, tiger sharks, a sawfish or two, and, Emma thought with a shudder, she thought she even saw a Great White swimming amongst the other killers. She swam a bit closer to examine the wall separating them and realized that it could be lifted. She and Rikki looked at each other, then swam to the surface again, having taken Cleo, each by a shoulder, and bringing her up along with them. She had fallen into a kind of stupor and didn't seem to care much what was done with her.

When they had surfaced, they headed for the flat rock in the middle of the pool and lifted first Cleo, then themselves onto its surface.

"What the hell is this place?" Rikki said in a whisper, as if she was afraid that someone was listening in on their conversation. They could be, for all she knew.

Emma shook her head slowly. "I don't know. And I don't know how to get out of here. It looks like an aquarium," she finished softly, but Cleo had heard the word and gave a groan.

"Even if we could break out of this place," Rikki said, trying not to let her panic creep into her voice, "We can't get out of here, we can't get back to the open water."

"We don't know even know where we are," Emma finished her thought. "She could have dragged us to Sydney, for all we know." The two mermaids looked around the enclosure, afraid of the unknown most of all, dreading an unknown evil.

"I don't think there will be a lab," Rikki whispered. "And that's what worries me."

Emma nodded, and put Cleo's head in her lap, to stroke her hair and try to get her to calm down. She worried, however, that her own racing pulse would keep her from being able to keep Cleo calm.

"It's over for us, isn't it?" Rikki asked aloud, catching sight of the tentacle Emma had seen earlier, and shuddering. She hated octopi and squids more than anything.

"On the contrary, my dears," they heard a lazy voice ring through the enclosure. "The fun is only beginning, for you and for us."

All three, even Cleo who seemed to come out of her catatonic state, looked up at the voice and saw a handsome middle-aged man walk into the large room where their enclosure was, his arm linked in Dr. Denman's.

"Don't you like your new home?" they heard him ask in an amused tone, as they saw him lift a little microphone to his lips. "And I was so hoping it would please you. My name is Ben Glover, my pets, and you and I are going to have a wonderful time together."

A/N: It's a long chapter, but it needed to be written! The plot thickens even more, just when you thought it couldn't get worse…

Please do leave reviews. I hope you're enjoying my story!

-Tess


	20. Locked Up

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water and all its characters belong to Jonathan M. Schiff Productions. All other characters are of my own invention and therefore belong to me.

CHAPTER 20: LOCKED UP

Rikki stared at the man who had introduced himself as Ben Glover and at Dr. Denman, smiling next to him. She then regarded their surroundings and the thick glass surrounding the enclosure. She then cast her eye on the glasses that both Glover and Denman were holding which were filled to the brim with some sort of drink. She narrowed her eyes and looked to Cleo and Emma to cooperate. Cleo, somewhat shaken out of her shock, cast her eye on the glasses as well and reached out a hand. In response to her movement, the liquid in the glasses began to expand and rise out of the glasses, growing more massive. Both Denman and Glover dropped the glasses instinctively, but Cleo continued to control the water to expand and rise above their heads. Then, she turned to Rikki, who boiled it, at which point, Cleo released it and let the scalding liquid fall on the heads of both. However, both Denman and Glover managed to jump back in time to avoid the boiling wave, and only her hand and his leg managed to get splashed. They both cried out in pain, but Glover recovered quickly enough.

He shook his head disapprovingly at the girls, as he continued to move towards the enclosure, a broad and wolf-like grin spreading across his face.

"What could you have hoped to accomplish with that, my dears?" he said into the little microphone. He was now standing directly behind the glass and they could see that it was thick enough that no amount of banging on it with ice projectiles or whatever else they tried would be enough to break it.  
"You aren't going anywhere, and trying to hurt me will only end very badly for you," he told them. "Linda told me all about you. I know what you are capable of, and I assure you, I will not put up with your antics." He raised an eyebrow and placed a hand on the glass, using the other to pat the spot on his leg where he had been burned.

Denman came up behind him and glared daggers at the flat rock where they were resting, nursing her burned hand.

"That was some very expensive champagne," Glover assured them with another predatory smile. "I hope you realize that you're going to pay for doing that."

Denman looked up at him as he spoke, wondering what he was going to do next. Really, what could he threaten them with? They were already trapped with no hope of escape. What kind of methods did he hope to use to control them and keep them docile? She may as well watch and learn, she had her own mermaid to take care of when she returned to her lab.

All three girls, instinctively, narrowed their eyes. They may be trapped, but whoever this man was, they were not going to let him intimidate them. Even the normally meek Cleo was glaring fiercely at him, her hand raised to strike in any way possible.

"You've lost your freedom, I'm afraid," he snarled. "So what could be worse than that? What, indeed?"

He leveled his gaze at Rikki, who had raised her head and was clearly ready to attack him with any and every weapon she had at her disposal.

"I don't think starving you is the way to go, my dears," he continued, speaking with a very steady tone that held a great deal of menace. "Nor, I think, do I want to introduce you to my sharks yet. Not when it might mean damaging such…" he licked his lips as he looked them over, "precious merchandise," he purred.

Rikki and Emma exchanged a glance, remembering the door between their tank and the shark tank.

"No, I have made a study of what can be used to tame creatures to behave in accordance with one's will." Glover's voice never lost its menace, but it was becoming softer with each word he spoke. "Do you know what instills the most fear?"

Emma finally got the nerve to voice a protest.

"You can't do this to us! It's kidnapping. Our families will find out we're missing," she argued. "If you think you can just keep us locked up like…"

"Animals?" he finished her thought. "But don't you realize that you're not human anymore and therefore, I can do whatever I please with you?" He placed a hand in his pocket and moved towards the glass door of the enclosure. They watched him place a hand on what looked like a lock and had already begun to raise their hands to attack, when he slipped something small through a crack and shut the door again.

"I don't want to do this every time," he said with annoyance very evident in his voice. "It's a tedious process. Next time, think before you decide to launch a futile attempt to free yourselves." By the time he was finished speaking, whatever he had thrown amongst the grasses on the dunes had started to smoke, and the girls began to cough as the smoke filled the enclosure. Within a few seconds, they were all lying unconscious on the rock.

Denman had watched this in amazement.

"What is it?" she asked him in awe.

"Tranquilizers, just administered differently," he replied casually. "I think those creatures are most dangerous all together for now. But they'll soon realize fighting back is no use, don't you think?" Denman nodded her agreement.

"Yes," he drawled, "I'll be sure to rid them of the silly notion that they have a hope of escaping." As he was speaking, two men had entered the room wearing gas masks. He nodded to them, and they walked towards the enclosure, where they entered swiftly and shut the door behind them. Within minutes, they emerged, soaked through, from the enclosure carrying Rikki, one with his hands supporting her tail where it met her fin, the other holding her under her arms.

"You know where to take her. Tie her up," Glover said airily, and they left the main hall.

"She controls heat, Ben," Denman warned him. "She's the most dangerous one."

"Yes, I realize that. She'll be quite safe where we put her, though, and next time she'll think twice before instigating rebellions," he assured her, placing his large hand over her burned one. "Let's take care of that, shall we?"

"But, the other two!" Denman protested before they left. "They'll still try to fight you, or have you forgotten—"

"No, Linda, have you forgotten that the greatest weapon I have is that I can hold uncertainty over their heads?" he interrupted.

Denman finally relaxed, as she realized what he meant.

"They won't do anything if they know their friend might be in danger and you have your finger on the trigger," she said softly, remembering the time she had done something similar with their good friend Lewis.

"Exactly," Glover agreed, leading her once more out of the enclosure.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lewis, Ash, and Zane had returned to the mainland and pushed themselves up onto a beach that was fairly well hidden from the main path. Zane, who had figured out how to control heat at this point, dried them off, and within seconds, they were all on their feet and running towards the road, hoping to get to the marina and find out whether Denman's boat was seen returning and where she was headed.

The search was fruitless, but it was on the marina that the saw Cleo's father, Emma's parents, and Rikki's father. They were speaking to a police officer, who was nodding and writing something down in a notebook as he listened. It was Mr. Sertori who spotted the trio and called them over, anxiously enquiring whether they had heard from the girls in the last two days.

They all three shook their heads, and soon, they were being subjected to the same questions that the girls had faced a few days before. They tried to explain that they needed to check something concerning the girls, but they were told that whatever it was could wait until they answered some questions, especially given the coincidence that they themselves had been missing only a few days ago.

It was getting later in the day, and they realized that Denman was no longer in the area. Otherwise, there would have been some sort of noise or they would have been able to glean some information from the people on the dock. Lewis was finishing up answering the last set of questions concerning his knowledge of the girls' whereabouts. Ash and Zane had gone ahead towards Zane's house, hoping to learn something about Denman or the girls from Zane's father. Suddenly, Ash stopped in his tracks and turned to Zane with a thought.

"What?" Zane snapped, frustrated by everything and not wanting to put up with any more time wasting.

"We're asking the wrong person for help," Ash said firmly.

"Oh?" Zane said with a nasty tone. "And who do you suppose we should ask? You don't happen to have Dr. Denman's mobile number handy, do you?"

Ash shook his head. "Look, I know it's a crazy idea, but what about… Thetis?"

Zane opened his mouth to expel a fresh retort, but found himself considering the idea.

"She might know how to find them, or how to get them free," he contributed.

"Exactly," Ash said, starting to smile. "We just need to find her."


	21. Escape

Disclaimer: H20: Just Add Water and all its characters belong to Jonathan M. Schiff Productions. All other characters are of my own invention and therefore belong to me.

CHAPTER 21: ESCAPE

Rikki woke up with a groan. Her wrists were burning and her arms felt as though someone were trying to pull them out of their sockets. She tentatively opened one eye and gazed upwards, where she saw her hands chained up, and that she was suspended from the ceiling in some sort of tank. The water was up to her chin, and she opened both eyes wide to figure out how she could get out of the chains that were causing her so much anguish. She tried to shift her arms and only wound up rubbing the metal of the chains against her already bruised and sore wrists. The salt water in the tank splashed up against them as she moved her tail, and caused her even more pain, as it burned the parts of her wrists that it touched.

"Hello?" she yelled, trying to get someone's attention. The tank was extremely narrow. She would have enough room to turn sideways in it, and that was about it. It was quite deep, however.

"Is anyone there?" she tried again, louder this time, and desperation creeping into her voice. The chains were hurting her badly, and she was afraid to move lest she rub her wrists against the metal again, but it was agony to keep still, as her arms were thoroughly stretched out from being suspended from the ceiling for what must have been at least two hours.

"Please, somebody!" she called, cursing herself mentally for the small sob that escaped her.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps above her, and, looking up, she saw two men standing over her, on the ceiling of the tank. Actually, she realized, it was more of a pool, and the glass over the top was meant to keep her from climbing out. They looked down at her, and she recognized one of them as the devil who had locked them all up.

"Had enough fun, sweetheart?" he asked her gently.

"Let me go!" she raged. "Let. Me. Go!" As she exerted the last of her strength to yell at him, she felt herself slump against the chains, and moaned softly.

"Now, why would I do that when I know the instant I release you from those chains, you'll try to set me alight?" he asked her, mocking.

Rikki, driven to a kind of frenzy by the combination of pain, fear, and frustration, shouted up to him, "I swear, I won't! Please. Please take them off." She let her head fall down against her chest, which rose and fell rapidly, as she tried to control her tears and her temper. She only heard him say, "Go ahead," and then there was a click, as the chains came undone and she splashed into the water.

Her first instinct was to scream, as her sore wrists came in contact with the salt water. However, she bit it back and swam rapidly to the surface to catch a breath. As she rose further up, she saw Glover staring down at her. The other man had left.

"Well, then," he said gently, "That hurt, didn't it?" He had a nice enough face, and if his smile was not so vicious, Rikki might have thought him handsome.

"Where are Cleo and Emma?" she asked, angry with herself for the way her voice shook. She didn't want him to see her while she felt so weak, both emotionally and physically.

"Your friends need to learn their lesson, too," he told her, not reacting to her first wave of protest. "Perhaps in a month, I'll be able to keep you all together in the nice place I've built for you. Meanwhile, you'll learn to do as you are told." He walked away without a backwards glance, and Rikki bobbed in the water for a bit, before taking a breath and swimming downwards. There, she settled on the bottom. There was scarcely room to move, and she bent over on herself. And the entire time, she wondered, where was Zane now? Hadn't he promised he'd never leave her again?

Thetis swam without purpose, without hope, and without any ideas. She had seen the trap that the girls had swum into, and she had not done anything to stop the woman and those with her from taking the girls.

Worse still, she knew where they were being taken. Mermaids occasionally had the ability to take a glimpse into the minds of humans, and she had seen the cave-like enclosure the girls would be taken to, to be kept as pets for a cruel man.

She had seen all of this, but she had not done anything. She had not even told the young men what she had seen, for fear that they would attack her for her mistake. And what did it matter anyway? She was alone again and always would be. For eternity.

And these were her thoughts when she suddenly spotted somebody in the water in front of her. A merman. At first, she shied back, thinking it was one of the boys, but then she looked closer and realized that it was somebody she had not seen in a very long time.

_Acis!_ she thought, her heart filled with joy at the thought of reuniting with her long-lost brother. She saw Julia, too, not far from him.

Zane was thinking of Rikki. He was thinking of how he'd failed her, of how he'd been unable to protect her once again. Except that drowning would have been a mercy compared to how Denman was going to treat her. He couldn't have known that Denman was an angel of mercy compared to the monster that held the girls now. What he couldn't understand was the severe pain and fear he was feeling, as though he was being tortured.

"I'm not going back in the water," Zane declared. "We're not going to be able to help anyone if they catch us, too, and I'm not up to swimming right now."

He realized that while rescuing Rikki was his number one priority, he was practically crippled by a sense of growing panic. What added to that was the fact that he realized it wasn't _his_ sense of growing panic. Somehow, he could feel what Rikki was feeling, he thought. Ash and Lewis felt a similar foreign sense of unease, but they were not as handicapped as Zane, who was also in physical pain.

"I'll kill Denman the next time I lay eyes on her," he swore, trying to catch his breath to avoid crying out with the phantom pain.

Ash and Lewis turned concerned looks to him.

"You guys don't feel any pain, huh?" he asked, grimacing.

When they both shook their heads, he sneered, "It figures that Rikki would do something to get herself hurt first."

Lewis looked out at the water again. He knew they couldn't go out there, not like this, but at the same time, he knew they needed help. Whatever was happening to the girls was worse than they thought.

"How do we find her?" Ash asked quietly, looking at the lapping waves and the sun that was gently setting on the horizon.

"You don't need to," answered a female voice. "I've found you."

All three turned to look at the beautiful girl walking down the beach, a girl that was much older than she looked.

"Thetis?" Lewis asked with some surprise. "The girls said…"

She looked sadly at her legs. She was wearing a very old-fashioned dress, and her long hair, out of the water, hung limply around her knees.

"They said I couldn't become human out of the water like they could," she said quietly, mournfully. Then, perking up slightly, she added, "But this is my mess, so I have to fix it. The curse that you accidentally placed upon them has already been undone. Now we just have to get them out of that monster's cages."

"Dr. Denman, you mean," Ash asked her.

Thetis shook her head.

"He is so much worse than your doctor."

"He?" inquired Zane. "What 'he'?" His thoughts instantly jumped to his father and a knot of fear that was his own settled in his stomach.

"His name is Glover, and I know where to find him," Thetis stated, indicating that the boys should follow her steps.

"Ben Glover?" Zane checked. "The billionaire eccentric?"

"Follow me," was all Thetis would say, and they did, almost running to catch up with her swift footsteps.

Cleo and Emma woke up side by side, the ends of their tails dipping in the saltwater pool, roused by the sound of speech on the other side of the glass. They both opened groggy eyes and looked over at the speakers, Denman and an unfamiliar man, one of Glover's men, most likely. It took less than ten seconds to realize that Rikki was not in the enclosure with them.

"Is she in the water?" Emma said softly, trying not to panic immediately. Cleo, in response, pulled herself over to the edge of the pool and looked down. Not able to see far enough, she dove in and swam to the bottom, looking all around herself for any sign of Rikki, even knowing that if she was somehow unconscious underwater, she might not be alive any longer. Ironic, she thought, that one of the only ways they might die now is if they drowned by losing consciousness underwater.

After a few minutes' scrutiny, she swam back towards the surface and looked sadly at Emma.

"She's not down there."

"No," a voice cut in. "She isn't."

The girls turned to see Denman leaning on the glass, looking down at them with a strange mixture of contempt and wonder.

"You'll get her back when you learn to behave," she noted. "Meanwhile, I'd do as Ben says, or you'll find that your experience here will become very unpleasant."

She walked away, and Emma and Cleo exchanged a look. They could certainly agree that Denman had no reason to lie about Rikki's whereabouts, and they didn't exactly have any other sources of information. Anxious and unhappy, they huddled against each other up on the shore, behind a shrub planted near the glass. A force of habit made them seek out the land, wishing that they could regain their legs if they just stayed there long enough.

About an hour passed, during which neither Emma or Cleo said a thing, and which, apart from the panic attacks they were experiencing, was completely uneventful, until they felt themselves dry off completely and the familiar feeling of the change swept over both of them.

Shocked, they stared down at their bodies, completely human once more, and furtively looked at the glass. The one guard left in the room was lazily looking around, but his attention had not yet fallen on the girls, who were asleep, he assumed.

"How are we human again?" Cleo asked in a whisper. Emma shrugged, clueless as well. However, Thetis and something she had mentioned earlier floated into her mind and passed away.

"Let's just hope nobody notices for the time being," Emma replied.

"Should we go back in the water?" Cleo suggested. "That way, they won't know we're still able to change back."

"No," Emma said. "For now, let's just stay this way. It might be to our advantage if they go to open a door and check on us." She didn't voice her anxiety that Denman would have told Glover about their ability to change back when they became dry and that he would have taken precautions against any potential escapes as he seemed to have done with everything else.

However, what she had not anticipated was the cracking noise she heard at the door, and just as she turned to look, she saw the guard sprawled on the ground, and Lewis, Zane, Ash and, of all people, _Thetis_, standing in the doorway, looking straight at them in the enclosure.

"Lewis!" Cleo shrieked and jumped to her feet.

"Oh, this will make it easier," he muttered, seeing that both Emma and Cleo were completely dry and therefore human. He'd unhooked the security systems as well as he could and thought he might be able to delay the arrival of Denman and Glover for a few minutes, which should be enough to get them out of the enclosure, though maybe not the building.

Zane pulled a small plastic card out and held it against the glass. With a soft hiss, the door came undone and Emma and Cleo were able to jump out.

"Where's Rikki?" Zane asked anxiously, seeing that she was not with the other two. His face was drawn and pale, as if from prolonged and dull pain.

"We don't know," Emma said, taking his hand in hers, looking at him nervously, as if he was about to pass out right there. "Denman said Glover took her to another place. I think she's still here, though, in this building."

"I know where she is," Lewis said, his eyes wide. "I think I saw it on the security cameras. But Glover is there right now."

"I don't care," Zane said through gritted teeth. "We're getting her now."

They had decided that Zane was in no condition to go in, and he stayed behind with Thetis, who wasn't going to be able to contribute meaningfully. Although Ash and Lewis had protested, Emma and Rikki insisted upon coming along, and made the fair point that they knew how to control their powers better than the boys.

By now, the ominous silence of the guard in the main room had roused Glover and he had raised an alarm. Thetis and Zane just managed to slip out, while the group of four rescuers made their way into the heart of the lion's den.

At the door, they could see Glover and Denman, along with a few other men, sitting around a very small pool, like a cold plunge in an old-fashioned bathhouse, which had been glassed over at the top. The glass could be moved up, and it was on a latch. Now to get rid of the six or so people that would happily take two more captives in addition to the three they had started with.

Cleo moved her hand just so, and the water under the latched glass began to rise. She realized that there was no way to lift the glass off cleanly, and it would have to break, but she hoped that Rikki would be able to somewhat avoid the shower of splinters. With a last effort, she let the water burst against the glass and with a resounding crash, bits of glass and gobs of water flew everywhere.

Glover, who had been preoccupied with his cell phone, looked around wildly for the source of the glass explosion and spotted the four teenagers crouched behind the opaque door.

Rikki, meanwhile, hearing the crack of the glass above, rapidly swam upwards and, with a great effort heaved herself up on her elbows above the water. She was immediately surrounded by two men who held tranquilizer guns locked on target, but Lewis dispatched these with two large balls of water that Ash had managed to crystallize.

Glover had reached the door, but was also knocked out by one of the glass balls that were flying in all directions. Denman alone seemed to be left conscious, and that was because they needed her.

Lewis walked over to her, and she, eyes wide with panic, saw that he would have no moral qualms about strangling her. Everyone around her had been attacked and she was on her own, essentially defenseless.

"Get her out of the water and to the door. NOW!" he barked, and Denman moved over to Rikki to comply. She grabbed her under her arms and dragged her over to the door, where, Emma asked her to dry herself off.

Rikki, who had regained some of her wind for the few minutes it took to drag herself out of the pool, only shook her head weakly.

"I can't," she mewled. "I'm sorry. Get out of here yourselves."

Just as Emma and Lewis exchanged a look over Rikki's prone body about what to do, Zane came up with Thetis from behind and knelt down towards Rikki.

"See, just like I promised, Rikki," he said softly. "Not leaving you again, don't you worry."

As the last drop of water on her body evaporated, Rikki regained her legs, and was picked up by Ash, who waved Zane away. Zane himself looked as though he should also be carried.

Without sparing a glance for the mangled room, the prone forms and the terrified Denman behind them, they sped out of the room and towards the door, away from the hateful place.


End file.
